To determine which airlines are the most dangerous, we can look at accidents per year as well as fatalities per year.
In short, Air France and American Airlines have been involved in the most plane crashes worldwide with 11 each, though popular US carriers, including United and Southwest have also had their fair share of accidents.
When it comes to fatalities, American Airlines has one of the worst records with 858 fatalities, along with China Airlines at 760 fatalities, and Malaysia Airlines at 537 fatalities, though this metric doesn’t always tell the full story.
For convenience, we have not only separated airlines by crashes and fatalities, but also by worldwide and USA.
* All data has been sourced from airfleets.net
Most Dangerous Airlines Worldwide
Accidents By Airline
While you might think that the more popular the airline, the more likely the odds of it crashing, this isn’t necessarily the case.
For example, despite their popularity, British Airways has only ever been involved in one plane crash whereas Qantas has never crashed.
If you live in the USA, you can see that some of the most popular airlines feature on this list, including Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, and United Airlines, while others don’t.
*Only airlines that have had 4 or more plane accidents have been included.
- Air France: 11 accidents
- American Airlines: 11 accidents
- China Airlines: 9 accidents
- Korean Air: 9 accidents
- Pakistan International Airlines: 8 accidents
- United Airlines: 7 accidents
- Egyptair: 6 accidents
- Ethiopian Airlines: 6 accidents
- Thai Airways: 6 accidents
- VASP: 6 accidents
- American Eagle: 5 accidents
- Continental Airlines: 5 accidents
- Lufthansa: 5 accidents
- Asiana Airlines: 4 accidents
- Garuda: 4 accidents
- Iran Air: 4 accidents
- Kuwait Airways: 4 accidents
- Libyan Arab Airlines: 4 accidents
- Southwest Airlines: 3 accidents
Related: How Often Do Planes Crash?
Fatalities By Airline
There isn’t necessarily a correlation between airline accidents and fatalities.
For example, Southwest Airlines has been involved in 3 plane crashes/accidents, though has only experienced 1 fatality.
*Only airlines that have experienced 150 or more fatalities have been included.
- American Airlines: 858 fatalities
- China Airlines: 760 fatalities
- Korean Air: 586 fatalities
- Air India: 542 fatalities
- Japan Airlines: 520 fatalities
- Malaysia Airlines: 537 fatalities
- Ethiopian Airlines: 407 fatalities
- Egyptair: 362 fatalities
- Air France: 347 fatalities
- Saudia: 312 fatalities
- Pakistan International Airlines: 311 fatalities
- Iran Air: 293 fatalities
- United Airlines: 288 fatalities
- Kenya Airways: 283 fatalities
- Garuda: 259 fatalities
- Gulf Air: 255 fatalities
- KLM: 248 fatalities
- Swissair: 229 fatalities
- Lion Airlines: 189 fatalities
- Birgenair: 186 fatalities
- Avianca: 181 fatalities
- Air India Express: 179 fatalities
- China Southern Airlines: 176 fatalities
- Ukraine International Airlines: 176 fatalities
- Indonesia AirAsia: 162 fatalities
- South African Airways: 159 fatalities
- Dana Air: 153 fatalities
- AirBlue: 152 fatalities
- Yemenia: 152 fatalities
- Sudan Airways: 146 fatalities
Most Dangerous Airlines in the USA
There have been no shortage of plane crashes by USA carriers, though some of the most popular airlines, including JetBlue and Spirit Airlines, have never been involved in a crash.
Accidents By Airline
- American Airlines: 11 accidents
- United Airlines: 7 accidents
- Southwest Airlines: 3 accidents
- Delta Air Lines: 2 accidents
- Alaska Airlines: 1 accident
- Horizon Air: 1 accident
Fatalities By Airline
- American Airlines: 858 fatalities
- United Airlines: 288 fatalities
- Delta Air Lines: 134 fatalities
- Alaska Airlines: 88 fatalities
- Horizon Air: 1 fatality
- Southwest Airlines: 1 fatality
Airlines With the Most Crashes
American Airlines and Air France have both had the most plane crashes, with 11 each. China Airlines and Korean Air have both had 9 accidents, while Pakistan International Airlines has had 8, and United Airlines has had 7 accidents.
Airlines That Have Never Crashed
Airlines that have never had a fatal crash include:
- Aegean Airlines
- easyJet
- Emirates
- Etihad Airways
- Hawaiian Airlines
- JetBlue
- Norwegian
- Qatar Airways
- Ryanair
- Southwest Airlines
- Spirit Airlines
- Sun Country Airlines
- Virgin Atlantic
- Volaris
- Wizz Air
The Chance of a Plane Crashing is Exceptionally Low
The chances of dying in a plane crash are 1 in 9,821, though this accounts for both general aviation and commercial aviation.
If strictly taking about commercial aviation, the chances of a plane crashing and involving fatalities is exceptionally low.
According to Arnold Barnett, who is an expert in the field of aviation safety and risk and Professor of Statistics at MIT, “if you take one flight a day, you would on average need to fly every day for 55,000 years before being involved in a fatal crash.”
5 Safest Airlines
There can be several ways to determine which airlines are the safest in the world, including the carriers with the lowest number of total accidents and fatalities.
This, however, wouldn’t necessarily tell the full story, considering some airlines carry many more passengers than others. In fact, while there are thousands of airlines, only approximately 230 airlines carry 99% of the world’s passengers.
Therefore, to determine which airlines are the safest, we have referred to AirlineRatings.com, which “takes into account a number of different factors related to audits from aviation’s governing bodies, lead associations as well as the airlines own safety data” to determine a rating.
More specifically, for 2022’s rating, “crashes over 5 years, serious incidents over two years, audits from aviation’s governing bodies and lead associations; government audits, fleet age, and COVID protocols” were all used in to compile the list.
Worldwide
- Air New Zealand
- Etihad Airways
- Qatar Airways
- Singapore Airlines
- TAP Air Portugal
USA
No USA airline made the top 5 list of the safest airlines, though Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines all made the top 20 (in order of placement).
See Also: A Complete Guide to Airline Operations
