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In first-ever kind of a ranking, as many as six U.S. carriers are placed among the ‘Top 10 Safest Airlines’ in the world. The report was released by the Air Transport Rating Agency (ATRA) yesterday.
European-based Air Transport Rating Agency (ATRA) released its list of the world’s 10 safest airlines yesterday. While European and American airlines seldom make it to the top rankings when it comes to top notch customer service, carriers from these regions seem to be much safer as per the ATRA.
As many as six North American airlines made it top the top 10. These airlines are American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways. European carriers that made it to the list are Air France – KLM, British Airways and Lufthansa.
No airlines from Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East or Asia are in the top ten lists, with the sole exception of Japan Airlines.
The ATRA is a rating agency based in Geneva, Switzerland that deals with aviation risk assessment and advanced data analyses in the air travel sector.
To conduct first study of its kind, the Air Transport Rating Agency is reported to have examined publicly available information on 15 criteria. This includes total number of travellers and cabin crew workforce; the average age of the carrier’s aircraft fleet, frequency of accidents in past ten years, dedicated flight academy pilot-training facilities and dedicated full flight simulators.
Air Transport Rating Agency elucidated that to understand airline safety, one is required to not only look at accident figures, but also give attention to “technical, human, organisational and external” elements.
ATRA believed that the European Union’s list was a good beginning as far as airline safety rating is concerned but the agency said that the listing led to a belief that all airlines which do not feature on the ‘blacklist’ are providing the same level of safety, which the agency believes is surely not the case.
“Even though the European Union publishes a ‘blacklist’ of dangerous airlines, there exists a real difference in safety between the other airline companies,” news sources quoted ATRA.
The list may have ruffled a few feathers and might not be agreeable to some. However, there is very little doubt in the minds of the people that airlines like British Airways deserve to be called ‘one of the safest airlines in the world.’
British Airways, UK’s flag carrier, has a near-perfect air safety record in recent history. With its hub at Heathrow airport, BA serves nearly 40 million passengers every year and provides flights to almost every major destination in the world. The airline has never been involved in any fatal accidents since the year 1976. People trust the brand and hope to net cheap air tickets on its flights.
World’s 10 Safest Airlines (In Alphabetical Order)
Air France-KLM
AMR Corporation (American Airlines)
British Airways
Continental Airlines
Delta Airlines
Japan Airlines
Lufthansa
Southwest Airlines
United Airlines
US Airways
No Skytrax Top 10 Airline in ATRA’S Safety List
If ATRA’s safety ranking is anything go by then it seems that airlines that are considered among the finest in the world are nowhere near being the top safe airlines. It is indeed interesting to note that none of the airlines in the Skytrax Top 10 made it to the ATRA’s top 10 safety list.
SkyTrax awards for the world’s best airlines this year have been dominated by airlines from Asia and the Middle East. Qatar Airways took the top spot, with Asiana being named as having the world’s best cabin staff. All Nippon Airways was awarded for having the best ground services.No wonder, cheap tickets on these airlines’ flights are highly sought after.