The World's 10 Most Dangerous Airlines

[dean hizudy 0]

 

By Alex Davies | Business Insider

 

 

Flying was less deadly in 2012 than in any year since 1945, but that does not mean all airlines are equally safe.

The Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Centre (JACDEC), which collects information about aviation accidents and safety, has published its annual Airline Safety Ranking.

The ratings take into account the number and deadliness of the hull losses (destroyed airplanes) they have suffered in the past 30 years, how they have fared more recently, and how many flights they have flown without incident.

The results do not take into account the cause of the hull losses, or whether the airline is at fault, so they are not a perfect measure of how safely an airline behaves.

Of 60 ranked airlines, here are the 10 with the worst safety records, including the number of hull losses since 1983, and how many fatalities they caused:

 

#10 SkyWest Airlines: 3 hull losses; 22 dead

 

#9 South African Airways: 1 hull loss; 159 dead

 

#8 Thai Airways International: 5 hull losses; 309 dead

 

#7 Turkish Airlines: 6 hull losses, 188 dead

 

#6 Saudia: 4 hull losses; 310 dead

 

#5 Korean Air: 9 hull losses; 687 dead

 

#4 GOL Transportes Aéreos: 1 hull loss; 154 dead

 

#3 Air India: 3 hull losses; 329 dead

 

#2 TAM Airlines: 6 hull losses; 336 dead

 

#1 China Airlines: 8 hull losses; 755 dead

 

Update: This post has been updated to clarify how JACDEC produces its safety rankings.

Edited January 24, 2013 by dean hizudy

[Mike P 0]

I do reckon China Airlines has the worst air accident in the aviation history. Surprisingly AA not in the list?

[Naim 6]

I like this methodology -- so all Nepalese airlines are safe!

[khairuddin abu hanifah 0]

The topic - 10 most dangerous airlines is quite vague.

 

If you are the owner of these airlines, are you going to accept that your airline is dangerous? You are scaring the s#1t of the loyal customers to these airlines.

 

A better topic should be - 10 Most Disastrous Airlines Incidents.

 

An incidents happened because of so many reasons. It could be a pilot/human or instrument error, or bad weather. So it's not justify to just blaming the airlines.

[AlvinLvK 0]

good to know that Air France isn't in the top 10 list...last time always heard some accidents about this airline...

[jaehn 0]

From the report:

 

Ranking from no 1 to 60 (safest is no 1)

1 Finnair

2 Air New Zealand

3 Cathay Pacific

4 Emirates

5 Etihad Airways

6 EVA Air

7 TAP Portugal

8 Hainan Airlines

9 Virgin Australia

10 British Airways

11 Lufthansa

12 All Nippon Airways

13 Qantas

14 JetBlue Airways

15 Virgin Atlantic Airways

16 Transaero Airlines

17 EasyJet

18 Thomas Cook Airlines

19 WestJet

20 Jetstar Airways NEU 4)

21 Southwest Airlines

22 Qatar Airways

23 Air Berlin

24 EL AL NEU

25 Air Canada

26 Thomsonfly

27 KLM

28 Delta Air Lines

29 AirAsia

30 Singapore Airlines

31 United Airlines

32 Ryanair

33 Swiss

34 Condor NEU

35 Malaysia Airlines

36 China Eastern Airlines

37 Jet Airways

38 Alitalia

39 Aeroflot ­ Russian Airlines

40 LAN Airlines

41 Air France

42 American Airlines

43 Air China

44 US Airways

45 Alaska Airlines

46 Asiana

47 Japan Airlines

48 China Southern Airlines

49 Iberia

50 SAS Scandinavian Airlines

51 SkyWest Airlines

52 South African Airways

53 Thai Airways International

54 Turkish Airlines

55 Saudia

56 Korean Air

57 GOL Transportes Aéreos

58 Air India

59 TAM Airlines

60 China Airlines

 

No Indonesian airlines on the list. I guess they are safe hahaha

[Naim 6]

See, AK 'safer' than SQ & MH. :-)

[alberttky 0]

See, AK 'safer' than SQ & MH. :-)

So is Qantas!

[affendi osman 0]

funny lah this ranking thing.....

[BC Tam 2]

See, AK 'safer' than SQ & MH. :-)

 

 

funny lah this ranking thing.....

I think a fair assumption would be that the surveyor gets to know about all there is to know, which may or may ot be the case

[S V Choong 4]

What the heck, Didn't know TG is that dodgy... Almost on par with KE? Nooooo wayyyyyy....

[Lock SH 0]

 

..............they have suffered in the past 30 years,.........

 

 

 

30 years ago, Air Asia was not even on paper yet ........

 

 

[BC Tam 2]

To be fair, they did quote this

The results do not take into account the cause of the hull losses, or whether the airline is at fault, so they are not a perfect measure of how safely an airline behaves

 

sort of like asking the reader to prepare heaploads of salt prior to digesting their data

Edited January 25, 2013 by BC Tam

[Mike P 0]

How could MH rank so low? Totally unacceptable... our last fatal incident was like more than 2 decades ago while SQ major fatal incident occurred 10 years ago!

[Johan Z 0]

Maybe they take into account total number of passengers or number of flights operated.

[S V Choong 4]

Looks to be the list of airline with snobbish F/A perhaps? Yes Air NZ tops the list.

[Naim 6]

Looks to be the list of airline with snobbish F/A perhaps? Yes Air NZ tops the list.

Hahaha, in all my travels, they were the only crew who told me to switch off my camera during take off.

[Sharil Abdul Rahman 0]

How could MH rank so low? Totally unacceptable... our last fatal incident was like more than 2 decades ago while SQ major fatal incident occurred 10 years ago!

Actually the last fatality we had was in 1995 - 9M-MGH in tawau.

 

SQ meanwhile was 13 years ago - in Taipei.

 

but yes, the metric used very inconclusive.

[Isaac 0]

What the heck, Didn't know TG is that dodgy... Almost on par with KE? Nooooo wayyyyyy....

Not a big concern though. Last time TG lost a plane was more than 10 years ago and they have come a long way since. Same goes to KE. Can't say the same about CI and AF though. Something is terribly wrong with the list because AF is not in it. AF actually crashed more planes compared to CI in the 2000s and also more people died in AF's crashes. Funny that KE, an airline which has not had a single crash in the past 13 years is still listed as the fifth most dangerous airline in the world

[Cire 0]

I think more information is needed to further define the list here. What are the criterias that the panel judges looked for besides hull and human life lost?

Pilot error - competency level; Mechanical failure- poor maintenance; Natural consequences - weather, terrain nature; Location - awkward landing strips; etc.

[S V Choong 4]

Not a big concern though. Last time TG lost a plane was more than 10 years ago and they have come a long way since. Same goes to KE. Can't say the same about CI and AF though. Something is terribly wrong with the list because AF is not in it. AF actually crashed more planes compared to CI in the 2000s and also more people died in AF's crashes. Funny that KE, an airline which has not had a single crash in the past 13 years is still listed as the fifth most dangerous airline in the world

Air NZ had some fatalities too. In the 1960-70s a F27 crashed into Auckland's runway at the sea end. A DC-10 was crashed into Mt Erebus at South Pole.

 

Yes agreed, AF should be one of the deadliest airlines.