Borrowing a line from one of my favorite travel writers, “don't worry about safety in the air. In fact, sitting on a long-distance flights is one of the safest things you can do on this planet. If you want to worry, think about a strategy to get safely from the house to the airport. Statistically, that is, by a wide margin, the most dangerous part of your journey”.
But what about airline safety? Does anyone care? Well. You'd be glad to know that beside the airlines in service there are other organizations and entities that track the emphasis each airline puts on the safe operation of their airplanes.
The year of 2016 was one of the safest years in aviation history, and the number of airline accidents has been steadily dwindling over the past 20 years. Despite some recent high-profile incidents, including the November crash of a LaMia jet, killing 71 people including a Brazilian football team, and the loss of a Russian plane carrying a military choir on Christmas eve, 2016 was the second safest year on record for air travel. It was reported that about 3.5 billion passengers flew, which puts the incidents at one death for every 10,769,230 travelers.
The International Airline Transportation Association (IATA), has an annual safety audit of all carriers in the Association. It is an evaluation system that assesses the operational management and control systems of each airline.
So, just which airlines are the safest? According to the IATA's most recent assessment, for the fourth year in a row, the Australian-based carrier, Qantas leads the 425 airlines monitored by IATA.
Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific was ranked very close to Qantas in the second spot.
The lowest ranked airline was China Airlines, just below Avianca and Garuda Indonesia..
Of the American aviation companies, Jet Blue almost cracked the top ten at number 11. Delta ranked number 17, Southwest number 24, United ranked 31, and you'd have to go all the way to number 41 to find American Airlines.
I noticed on the news today that the Transportation Security Association is beginning a more thorough questioning of travelers departing other countries coming into the United States. Looks like the emphasis is still on airline passenger safety, even though it might take a little longer to get to your seat on the plane.
Thank goodness for the folks throughout the airline industry who are looking out for our safety in the air and on the airports.
Speaking of those who are looking out for you, the experienced travel counselors at The Travel Factory work daily to help and advise our friends on the best vacation possibilities available that fit their needs and pocketbooks, so give us a call today at 698-1421 or toll-free 800-760-4040 for some seriously friendly attention to your travel needs and wants. If you are driving around, you can find us at 4150 Southwest Drive, tucked in between Rosa's and Chick-Fil-A.