Traveling in 2019? These Airlines Are the Safest Bet

The world's safest airline for 2019 is also the industry's most experienced, according to AirlineRatings.com. The website, which monitors the safety records of 405 airlines worldwide, considered industry and government audits; crash and incident reports; profitability; safety initiatives; and fleet age in coming up with the 20 safest airlines for 2019, putting Australian airline Qantas at the top of the heap due to its "amazing record of firsts in operations and safety" over its 98-year history. Specifically, "Qantas was the lead airline with real-time monitoring of its engines across its fleet using satellite communications, which has enabled the airline to detect problems before they become a major safety issue." All airlines honored (in alphabetical order):

• Air New Zealand
• Alaska Airlines
• All Nippon Airways
• American Airlines
• Austrian Airlines
• British Airways
• Cathay Pacific Airways
• Emirates
• EVA Air
• Finnair
• Hawaiian Airlines
• KLM
• Lufthansa
• Qantas
• Qatar Airways
• Scandinavian Airline System
• Singapore Airlines
• Swiss International Air Lines
• United Airlines
• Virgin Group (Atlantic and Australia)

(AirlineRatings.com considers one of the group as the "gold standard.")