List of worlds safest airlines revealed

[flyhardmo]

Australian and World News - Main Stories - ninemsn News (http://news.ninemsn.com.au/smartphone/default.aspx#article.aspx?id=8291805)


Air France-KLM, British Airways and Lufthansa are the safest airlines in Europe, according to a study ranking the "ten safest airlines" by the Air Transport Rating Agency (ATRA) released Monday.

The safest US-based airlines are AMR Corporation, Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways, while the safest from Asia is Japan Airlines, it said, without giving a ranking within the top ten.

To obtain this classification, the first of its kind, ATRA examined publicly available information on 15 criteria, such as the average age of the aircraft used or the homogeneity of the fleet, it said.

The agency explained that to understand airline safety, one needed not only to look at accident figures, but also "technical, human, organisational and external" elements.

"Even though the European Union publishes a 'blacklist' of dangerous airlines, there exists a real difference in safety between the other airline companies," ATRA added.

Air France AMR WTF. Haven't these airline had some serious hull losses in the last few yrs..

[DownIn3Green]

I'm ready for the flak, but any flight on any airline is only as safe as the person in the left seat...

I feel whatever airline and/or A/C I'm flying is the safest at that particular time...

[Tankengine]

Rainman had it better than these journos!
Air France??:eek:

[westhawk]

Another slow news day in aviation. Yawn...

[bubbers44]

Yes, that is true. The pilots are the ones that make it safe. Training only goes so far, professional pilots are what makes the difference. It doesn't matter what airline they fly for. Sully is our last example of excellence. He was a former PSA pilot that Usair took over. He got to his excellence as a pilot far before Usair took control. Also before he became a PSA pilot. He didn't need someone to teach him how to fly, he already had it mastered.

We have the Bob Hoovers in our industry and he was one of them. Training doesn't matter, he would excell anyway.

[Eff Oh]

Now this is not a bashing post, please don't think it is, far from it. However are BA and Air France not the ONLY major airlines in Europe to have a recent hull loss?
Edit. Actually I forgot that Lufthansa lost an MD11 recently too.

[Helen49]

Bubbers44.......'The pilots are the ones that make it safe!!'

How preposterous!!!

So the designers, engineers, refuellers, air Traffic controllers, air traffic engineers, handling agents, despatchers, airfield ops. staff, regulators etc etc are irrelevant!!

For goodness sake, it is a team effort with a huge number of people making their contributions. The end product is as good as the weakest link. Everyone has an important part to play, their importance being realised so often only after the accident.

The pilots are just the ones who take the glory and the big bucks!

[JSCL]

And didn't US Airways practice whether their planes can float on the Hudson at one point?

Yawn. AF, BA and US Airways have qolmhad some serious incidents in the last few years. Maybe number of serious incidents / hull losses wasnt a criteria...

[Capetonian]

These surveys are quite meaningless and pointless.

This one appears to be at least partly based on criteria which estimate the likelihood of an incident in the future without taking into account past performance. Whilst it may be unfair to rate a carrier lower because of a previous accident, there are others where a pattern of incidents clearly indicate failings in procedures.

A 40 year old aircraft in the hands of a competent experienced pilot is going to be a lot safer than the latest high-tech in the hands of a poorly trained pilot, and I know where I'd feel safer.

[The SSK]

Each time you step on a plane, you are taking an infinitesimally small risk. If you are unlucky enough to have picked the wrong one, it is questionable how much that particular airline’s track record might have forewarned you.

If you classify ‘the safest airline in the world’ as the one which has never had a fatality or a hull loss, then sooner or later that airline will most likely suffer a catastrophic event. At the moment that flight takes off, it has become the unsafest airline in the world.

[HeadingSouth]

and how much exactly was:
- the payment of bribery for such a result ?
- the political influence of a major carrier not being in the top rankings ? (incidentally its the three largest national carriers of Europe - AF, LH and BA)

and how much is the use of such nonsense statistics ? do I board a plane whose statistical safety record is 1:1'000'000 or 1:100'000 ? mulitplied by the statistical safety record of the crew ? multiplied by the statistical safety of ground control ? multiplied by the statistical safety of the airfield where I am flying from and to ?

what help is the statistic safety record if my holiness myself is flying on board the "swiss cheese holes" alignment plane ?

total rubbish.

[jabird]

I don't like lists which point to a report you need to get a quotation just to buy.:ugh::ugh::ugh:

But, taken on those names we are given, surely they can rank them by their criteria of safety? Otherwise, it seems bizarre to put AF-KL at the tob, just by virtue of them coming first in the alphabet. Air safety is indeed a complex subject, but it doesn't discriminate by name.

It says the data is based on 2009, so presumably this means the full calendar year? How can AF be rated safer than FR & U2, considering the latter two have never lost a passenger? Ah, they are low cost airlines, which must be 'inherently' dangerous? :mad:

If you classify ‘the safest airline in the world’ as the one which has never had a fatality or a hull loss, then sooner or later that airline will most likely suffer a catastrophic event. At the moment that flight takes off, it has become the unsafest airline in the world.

Or does a hull-loss or serious incident when everyone walks away (eg BA38, but also BA5390 and BA9 in earlier years) make an airline 'safe'?