After the devastating Air India flight went down on June 12 in Ahmedabad — with just one believed survivor — airline safety is under the microscope, once again.
Aviation watchdog AirlineRatings.com has released its annual 2025 list of the safest (and sketchiest) airlines — which consists of the best full-service and budget carriers based on crash records, incident reports and more.
Several airlines earned a bottom-of-the-barrel, one-star safety rating — the aviation equivalent of a health inspection “F.”
According to the site, these bottom-dwellers were flagged for flunking audits, hiding safety data or racking up red-flag incidents.
This includes Russia’s Aeroflot, Pakistan International Airlines and Wings Air of Indonesia — many hailing from countries that failed key global safety checks.
Some, like Aeroflot and Pakistan International Airlines, have even been grounded in parts of Europe for their checkered pasts.
The site also ranked the top 25 safest full-service airlines for 2025 — and Air New Zealand soared above the rest.
Australia’s Qantas snagged second, while Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways and Emirates are in a three-way tie for third.
Virgin Australia glided into fourth, Etihad landed in fifth — with Japan’s ANA, Taiwan’s EVA Air, Korean Air, Alaska Airlines and Turkish Airlines rounding out the top 10.
Translation? These carriers are your best shot at a smooth, stress-free touchdown.
Newcomers Iberia (No. 16) and Vietnam Airlines (No. 22) made their debut on this year’s top 25 safest list, while Korean Air (No. 8) made its way into the top 10 for the very first time.
But high-flyers Singapore Airlines and KLM got bumped from the top tier after a few turbulence-inducing incidents in the past year, as reported by The Tab.
In addition, the aviation-themed site also revealed its top 25 safest budget carriers for 2025 — and leading the top 10 pack is HK Express, followed by Jetstar and Ryanair.
Rounding out the sky-safe savings squad: easyJet, Frontier, AirAsia, Wizz Air, VietJet, Southwest, and Volaris.
The AirlineRatings.com team of experts ranks airlines each year using everything from crash history and plane age to audit scores and financial health — because broke airlines cut corners.
The full list in each category can be found on their site.
Similarly, as The Post previously reported last month, JetBlue, Delta and Southwest are flying high in customer satisfaction, topping JD Power’s 2025 rankings.
The recent study — which looked at everything from staff and trust to tech tools and legroom — found JetBlue ruled the skies in first/business class, with Delta and Alaska close behind.
Delta notably snagged the top spot in premium economy for the third year running, thanks to its Comfort+ perks like extra legroom and free booze.
JetBlue and Alaska rounded out the top three.
In economy, Southwest soared above the rest for the fourth year straight, with JetBlue and Delta close on its tail.
