The world’s safest airlines for 2026, revealed – from low-cost to full-service carriers

Affordability and comfort are likely some of the biggest factors that you weigh up when you’re choosing an airline to fly with, but you know what they say: it’s better to be safe than sorry. While flying is statistically the safest way to travel, it can’t hurt to know which airlines are particularly strong on safety for some extra peace of mind.

That’s why the aptly-named AirlineRatings.com has evaluated 320 different operators on a bunch of safety indicators – the total number of flights, fleet age, serious incidents, pilot training, and international safety audits as well as in-flight turbulence prevention – and produced rankings of which ones scored the best. 

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In the full-service category, Etihad claimed the top spot, thanks to its ‘young fleet, advancements in cockpit safety, particularly around turbulence, a crash-free history, and the lowest incident rate per flight of any airline on the list,’ according to AirlineRatings.com CEO Sharon Petersen. 

In the low-cost category, she explained: ‘HK Express claimed the top accolade for a second time, driven by a modern fleet, exceptionally low incident rate, and an almost flawless onboard safety audit’. It’s worth noting that numerical differences between each airline are minor, and there’s very little difference between the leaders on both of these lists. Scroll on to have a look. 

The top 10 safest full-service airlines for 2026

1. Etihad
2. Cathay Pacific
3. Qantas
4. Qatar
5. Emirates
6. Air New Zealand
7. Singapore Airlines
8. EVA Air
9. Virgin Australia
10. Korean Air

The top 10 safest low-cost airlines for 2026

1. HK Express
2. Jetstar Airways
3. Scoot
4. flydubai 
5. EasyJet Group
6. Southwest
7. airBaltic
8. VietJet Air
9. Wizz Air Group
10. AirAsia Group4

To browse the top 25 airlines in each category, and read about the methodology in more detail, head to AirlineRatings.com. 

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