Best and Worst Airlines in the World
Airline levels of service and safety records vary tremendously from airline to airline. According to Skytrax, the top airlines in the world (with 5 star ratings) are as follows:
1.Asiana Airlines (South Korea), 2.Cathay Pacific Airways (Hong Kong), 3.Kingfisher Airlines (India), 4.Malaysia Airlines (Malaysia), 5.Qatar Airways (Qatar), 6.Singapore Airlines (Singapore).
The five stars ranking recognizes airlines at the forefront of product and service achievement according to Skytrax - airlines that generally set trends to be followed by other carriers.
Apart from these 5-star ratings, other airlines in the world are given ratings from zero stars to four stars, depending on a broad criteria. More than 800 different areas of product and service delivery for each airline are examined for both ground and onboard operations in deciding how the star ratings are awarded.
But what about the worst airlines in the world? Who are the airlines with the worst safety record in the world? For this we have to dig deeper because researchers who publish such information are coy about saying who is worst.
Judging the worst airlines, particularly when it comes to safety, is much more difficult than deciding which airlines offer the best service. This is because some airlines in remote parts of the world are difficult to compare with major airlines, given the number flights, the routes, the service, etc.
However, when accident statistics are analysed, it is possible to compile a list of sorts showing the worst airlines in the world. So here are the top ten worst airlines in terms of accident ratings, starting with number one as the worst:
1.Cubana Airline, accident rating 5.74. 2.China Airlines, accident rating 3.57. 3.Avianca Colombian Airline, accident rating 3.15 4.TAM Airline, accident rating 2.76. 5.Korean Air, accident rating 2.26. 6.Egypt Air, accident rating 2.06. 7.Indian Air Lines, accident rating 1.94. 8.Taesa Airlines, accident rating 1.83. 9.China Soutwest Airlines, accident rating 1.74. 10.Aeromexico, accident rating 1.55.
This list of worst airlines was compiled by “Airline Accident Ratings” by looking at a twenty-year period from 1981 to 2000. This is the latest data available, and the ratings are based on number of flights, number of airline accidents, and the fatality rate of those accidents. Naturally, this information cannot and should not be used to provide an accurate assessment of an airline safety-rating or future risk of an airline calamity. Also, the list does not “favour” or condemn any particular airline, and a lot can change in the period 2000 - 2008.
It is clear, however, that some airlines have a very poor safety record and the public has a right to know the facts, whatever they may be.
When examining the safety records of airlines, you are hit with the fact that most causes of fatal airline accidents are due to pilot error. Figures compiled over a fifty year period by “Plane Crash Info” show that pilot error accounts for at least 53% of all fatal airline accidents!
Since the 1950’s the average figures for airline pilot error have remained pretty constant. This shows that modern aircraft technology is not helping to reduce the incidence of fatal accidents due to pilot error.
August 5th, 2008 at 2:00 am
hi there,
this post is cool, but who is China Soutwest Airlines anyway? this airlines has already been merged by Air China seven yrs ago, so seems your data is in some sense too old, isn’t it?
September 20th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
I’m not really sure what the point of your article is, especially since you have your article titled as the “Worst Airline Safety Ratings Revealed.” This is very misleading, as it would suggest you are revealing something about current information on airplane safety records. However, you are skewing statistics and information.
Timeliness of information is a key concern for passengers that want to know about airlines now in 2008, not what happened between 1981-2000.
Using the statistics of currently good airlines (in 2008), and comparing it with bad airlines of the past (between 1981 - 2000), is not an accurate nor fair comparison. As demonstrated, you are comparing a 1 year period versus a 20 year period. You are only exaggerating the comparison and skewing it in your own favour to suit your article’s bias.
Consider comparing current information at all times. i.e. apples to apples, oranges to oranges e.g. current year good vs. current year bad statistics, past decade good vs. past decade bad. I’m sure you will find totally different results than what you have already presented.
Claiming to have revealed something, is also misleading. You aren’t revealing anything that hasn’t already been published over the last 7 years, regarding these statistics. You are just skewing everything to make the good airlines look really good, and to make the bad airlines of the past, look really bad. If anything, you are simply sensationalizing an article, with a misleading title - at best.
My personal opinion is that you are hyping this article, in order to advertise your book from your website.