Etihad ranked world’s safest airline for 2026

Airline Ratings’ latest safety tables place the Abu Dhabi carrier at the top of the full-service category, with Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Qatar and Emirates close behind and HK Express leading low-cost airlines

Etihad has been ranked the world’s safest full-service airline for 2026.

The UAE’s national carrier took the top position ahead of Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Qatar and Emirates in AirlineRatings.com’s annual assessment, which evaluates 320 airlines worldwide using incident rates adjusted for flights, fleet age, serious incidents, pilot training, international safety audits and operational transparency, with additional weight this year given to turbulence prevention.

Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Qatar and Emirates complete the top five in a year where Airline Ratings says the scoring gap between leading carriers has become exceptionally tight.

The full-service list also includes airlines such as Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines, EVA Air, Korean Air, Turkish Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, ANA, TAP Air Portugal, British Airways, Lufthansa, Air Canada, Delta and American Airlines. 

STARLUX and Fiji Airways appear in the rankings for the first time, while Singapore Airlines returns after its exclusion in 2025 following a turbulence-related incident.

HK Express, meanwhile, has been ranked the world’s safest low-cost airline for 2026. The Hong Kong-based carrier, owned by Cathay Pacific, operates services across Asia and leads a separate table assessed using the same methodology but applied to larger, high-frequency airlines operating low-cost models.

The low-cost rankings also mark the first appearance of Spring Airlines China and a significant rise for airBaltic into the top 10, alongside the continued inclusion of airlines such as Jetstar, Scoot, easyJet Group, Southwest, Wizz Air Group, Ryanair Ireland and UK, Jet2, Norwegian, Vueling and WestJet Group.

Airline Ratings said that although every airline featured has recorded incidents over the past two years, the rate per flight across those ranked sits between 0.002 and 0.09.

Speaking about this year’s results, its CEO Sharon Petersen said: “What stands out this year is how little separates the leaders. Less than four points covered positions one through 14, and at the very top the margins were even tighter, with just 1.3 points separating positions one through six in the full service category.

“We may be reaching a point where traditional rankings risk being misleading, and where grouping airlines into performance tiers provides a more accurate reflection of reality. All airlines in the Top 25 are world leaders in aviation safety, and claims that one is significantly safer or less safe than another are both sensationalist and false.”

Top 25 Full-Service Airlines for 2026

Etihad
Cathay Pacific
Qantas
Qatar
Emirates
Air New Zealand
Singapore Airlines
EVA Air
Virgin Australia
Korean Air
STARLUX
Turkish Airlines
Virgin Atlantic
ANA
Alaska Airlines
TAP Air Portugal
SAS
British Airways
Vietnam Airlines
Iberia
Lufthansa
Air Canada
Delta
American Airlines
Fiji Airways

Top 25 Safest Low-Cost Airlines for 2026

HK Express
Jetstar Airways
Scoot
flydubai
EasyJet Group
Southwest
airBaltic
VietJet Air
Wizz Air Group
AirAsia Group
TUI UK
Vueling
Norwegian
JetBlue
FlyNAS
Cebu Pacific
Jet2
Ryanair Ireland and UK
Spring Airlines China
Transavia Group
Eurowings Group
Volaris
WestJet Group
GOL
SKY Airline Chile

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_{Main image: Credit, AirlineRatings.com}