The 2017 annual survey for airline safety ratings was done by the world’s only safety ratings website namely AirlineRatings.com.  They are an independent rating website for product and plane safety ratings.

From around the world, 425 airlines were surveyed, only 148 were given top marks with the rest coming in with only 3 or fewer stars out of a possible 7.

These star ratings are given for:

Not being on the EU’s blacklist

Airline is certified by IATA (International Air Transport Association)

Accident / crash record

Fleet grounding due to safety issues

To get into the top 20 airlines must show an exemplary level of operations and little to no incidents.  Budget airlines do not get given 7 stars!

The top 20 safest airlines for 2017 were as follows (they were not ranked by AirlineRatings.com but listed in alphabetical order except for the airline that came out tops):

The safest airline for 2017 and taking the title for the fourth year in a row was Qantas.

The rest of the top 20 are:
  Air New Zealand
  Alaska Airline
  All Nippon Airways
  British Airways
  Cathay Pacific Airways
  Delta Air Line
  Etihad Airways
  Eva Air
  Finnair
  Hawaiian Airline
  Japan Airline
  KLM
  Lufthansa
  Scandinavian Airline System
  Singapore Airline
  Swiss
  United Airlines
  Virgin Atlantic
  Virgin Australia

For update-to-date airline and air travel news, https://www.airlineratings.com/ is a great source of information.  It lists a whole lot of news regarding new air craft carriers, what is happening within the airline and aircraft industries.  Flight tickets can be booked on the website, with detailed travel routes, what to expect on board each aircraft such as seat size, leg room, entertainment, meals, kid’s entertainment.
There are reviews, tips and helpful advice from travelers who have travelled on the various airlines for which they share their experiences user ratings.

The website lists the top safest low-cost airlines, each having passed strict IOSA (International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit) audits, there are over 1000 audit considerations plus having to show extremely good safety records.

Airlineratings.com list the following top ten safest low-cost budget-airlines for 2017:

  Aer Lingus
  Flybe
  HK Express
  Jetblue
  Jetstar Australia
  Jetstar Asia
  Thomas Cook
  Virgin America
  Vueling
  Westjet