SAS is also on the list of the world's 20 safest airlines, according to CNN. But Swedish aviation safety expert Hans Kjäll says that one should be careful when interpreting the list.

Every year, Airline Ratings lists what they consider to be the safest airlines in the world.

Australian Qantas ranks number one, writes CNN, which was one of the first to report on the list, which applies to 2019.

Qantas held the top position between 2014 and 2017. In 2018, no one was named number one. Then, the 20 companies were listed as the safest, but without ranking.

This year, Qantas is once again listed as number one and the other 19 companies are mentioned in alphabetical order on the list, but without ranking.

SAS on the list
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) is on the list in 2019.

Airline Ratings says it has analyzed data from a total of 405 airlines worldwide and uses 12 different criteria in its assessment, including audits conducted by governments, aviation authorities and other governing bodies.

The number of crashes and other serious incidents, as well as the age of the fleet and the profitability of the companies, are also stated to be criteria in the assessment.

The expert is skeptical
But Hans Kjäll, who has worked on aviation safety issues at the Swedish Civil Aviation Authority for over 30 years, is skeptical of the list.

– It can be an indicator. However, one should be careful with the interpretation due to the fact that the parameters used have different quality, depending on the company and country, he says.

He also has extensive experience in international aviation safety work and says that confidentiality can make it difficult to compare airlines.

– For example, some data used to produce the table may be subject to confidentiality depending on the country and authority, he says.

Source: svt.se

20 COMPANIES ON THE LIST

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 (No. 1)
Qatar
Scandinavian Airlines
Singapore Airlines
Swiss
United Airlines
Virgin group airlines (Atlantic and Australia)
Source CNN/Airline Ratings