Worst Airline Safety Ratings Revealed

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, 2.Cathay Pacific Airways, 3.Kingfisher Airlines, 4.Malaysia Airlines, 5.Qatar Airways, 6.Singapore Airlines.

The five-star ranking recognizes airlines that offer a top quality product and service according to Skytrax – airlines that 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 and what are their plane crash odds? For this we have to dig deeper because researchers who publish such information are coy about saying who is worst.

Deciding which airlines have the worst safety records is much more difficult than judging the level of service offered by major airlines. This is because airline safety ratings in some of the less well-known airlines are difficult to compare with major airlines, given the routes, the service, the number of flights, 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 examining the airline safety ratings, 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!

The figures for airline pilot error have on average remained pretty constant since the 1950’s, showing that modern technology is not leading to a reduction in the incidence of pilot error.