HK Express tops AirAdvisor’s annual Global Airline Safety Rankings, which highlight the 20 carriers with the best safety performance for 2025. Australia’s Jetstar Group comes in second, followed by Singapore’s Scoot and the UAE’s flydubai, which round out the top spot.

AirAdvisor Founder and CEO Anton Radchenko explains that the rankings are the result of a comprehensive and proven analysis of over 300 airlines. Criteria considered included safety and fatality records, certification and audit performance, operational safety systems, fleet age and maintenance, pilot qualifications and training, safety-focused organizational culture, and the financial and operational stability of the companies.

Radchenko points out that the 20 top-ranked airlines stand out not only for maintaining impeccable safety records, but also for actively leading the industry in terms of safety culture, ongoing training, and strategic investment. For the AirAdvisor CEO, the myth that low-cost carriers offer lower safety persists. “This is simply not true. Many low-cost carriers operate newer aircraft, fly fewer complex routes, and take safety as seriously as traditional airlines,” he says. And so, he stresses that the main objective of the AirAdvisor ranking is to recognize operational excellence and provide passengers with reliable information that helps them make more informed travel decisions.

In the report, AirAsia, IndiGo, and ZIPAIR also performed well, because of their high standards of regulatory compliance and efficient operating models. EasyJet came in sixth place, with a slightly lower score, mainly due to the age of its fleet and the complexity of its operations. A similar situation was seen with Ryanair, Frontier Airlines and Wizz Air, which occupied 12th, 13th and 14th positions, respectively. Jet2.com and Eurowings ended the list in the last positions of the ranking.

The AirAdvisor CEO is adamant that commercial aviation is exceptionally safe overall. “Flying has never been safer. In 2022 alone, more than 32 million flights were operated globally, with only five fatal accidents, a fatality rate of 0.000016%, according to IATA.

In contrast, tens of thousands of road deaths occur every year in Europe alone,” he says.

For Anton Radchenko, head of AirAdvisor, a world leader in the defence of air passenger rights, the rankings are a way of increasing society’s access to relevant information. He argues that travelers have the right to know which airlines not only meet minimum safety requirements but also stand out as best-in-class. “That’s why our ranking recognizes companies that not only prevent incidents, but also continually invest in systems and a solid organizational culture focused on prevention.”