Travel and Vacations

World’s Best and Worst Airlines

Story Published on August 27, 2008 ⋅  Email this Story ⋅  Print this Story ⋅ Post a comment ⋅

The levels of service and airline safety ratings vary tremendously according to Skytrax. The top six airlines in the world in 2008 (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 plane crash odds and the worst airlines in the world? What about airlines with the worst safety record in the world? For this we have to go to other sources of information.

Judging airline safety ratings and the worst airlines is much more difficult than judging the best ones. This is because some airlines in remote countries are difficult to compare with major airlines, given the number flights, the routes, the service, etc.

However, when airline safety ratings are checked and carefully analysed, it becomes clear that some airlines are considerable worse than others. Here are the top ten worst airlines in the world in terms of accident ratings, with number one listed 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 (the latest data available). 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 you examine airline safety ratings, one thing springs out: most causes of fatal airline accidents are due to pilot error. According to figures compiled over a fifty year period by ?Plane Crash Info?, pilot error accounts for 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.

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