While 2014 made a concerted effort to scare the absolute living piss out of air travelers, 2015 starts on a slightly more encouraging note – the world’s safest airline has been formally announced, and it’s right here in Australia.
Per a report in Traveller, Qantas has been singled out for its exemplary, fatality-free record, and has been accepted industry-wide as “the world’s most experienced airline” in terms of safety and operations.
It was praised in particular for its real-time monitoring of engines across the fleet, using satellite technology. “Doing so allows the airline to detect problems before they become a major safety issue,” said a report from Airline Ratings.
2014 was a mixed year for aviation. Although the number of fatal accidents was a record low 21, there were 986 fatalities in total, higher than the 10-year average. 3.3 billion people traveled last year, on 27 million flights.
The rest of the Top 10 safest airlines were: Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, Emirates, Etihad Airways, EVA Air, Finnair, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines.
While we as a nation are still the undisputed world leaders in drunken plane rage and general airborne mischief, we can most definitely be proud of our first-class flight facilities.
Photo: Scott Barbour via Getty Images
