Asia’s Jetstar Group, Vietnam’s VietJet named among safest low-cost airlines in world

Jetstar, which has offshoots in Australia, Singapore and Japan, was named alongside Vietnam’s VietJet on a list of the top 10 safest low-cost airlines

The list from Australia-based AirlineRatings.com was based on accidents, incidents, audits, European Union ban lists, fleet age and Covid-19 protocols

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A JetStar passenger plane takes off from the runway at Changi International Airport in Singapore. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:45am, 10 Jan 2022Updated: 11:47am, 10 Jan 2022

Australia’s Jetstar Group, which has offshoots in Singapore and Japan, and Vietnam’s VietJet have been listed among the world’s top 10 safest low-cost airlines by a safety and product review website.

Australia-based AirlineRatings.com publishes an annual list highlighting the world’s safest airlines, focusing on factors such as accident and incident records, audits, ban lists from the European Union, fleet age, and Covid-19 protocols. Its top 10 were picked from 385 airlines that the website monitors.

Its top 20 list for the world’s safest low-cost carriers are listed alphabetically, which means AirlineRatings does not distinguish who came out on top – though all 10 boast a seven-star safety rating, except for Jetstar Japan under the Jetstar Group. According to The International Air Transport Association, the Japanese airline is absent from its audit registry. AirlineRatings’ website has given the carrier a six-star safety rating instead of seven.

VietJet staff and crew salute the launch of daily flights between Ho Chi Minh City and Hong Kong in 2016. Photo: Keith Chan

AirlineRatings clarified that airlines without IATA’s Operational Safety Audit, or IOSA, are not unsafe carriers, but those that have conducted and passed the audit “comply with the most stringent of rules and practices governing aviation safety”.

US low-cost carriers Allegiant, Frontier, and JetBlue made the list, as did Mexico-based Volaris – despite the country being downgraded to a “Category 2” nation by the US Federal Aviation Administration in May. According to the agency, a Category 2 rating means the nation’s laws, regulations, and oversight do not meet international safety standards. However, Mexico anticipates it will return to Category 1 in 2022, the country’s foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, said in August.

Only one carrier dropped off the list from 2021. Last year, Air Arabia made the top 10, but Volaris beat it out in 2022. The low-cost list complements AirlineRatings’ top 20 safest airlines, which Air New Zealand took the crown in most recently.