The world's safest airline for 2022 revealed, and it's largely influenced by COVID safety

At a time when another COVID-19 surge clouds over traveling, the value of airline safety is at an all-time high. 

The focus on safety around the virus is reflected in AirlineRatings.com's annual list of the world's safest airlines, with some significant changes seen in 2021. Across the board, the second year of the pandemic showed continued low numbers of passengers on flights taking the skies.

When people are traveling, the safest airline – according to the annual list – is Air New Zealand. AirlineRatings.com monitors 385 airlines from across the world, measuring factors that include crash and serious incidents, age of aircraft and, most notably, COVID-19 protocols. 

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"Air New Zealand is a leader in this field with comprehensive retraining," said Geoffrey Thomas, the editor-in-chief of AirlineRatings.com, an Australian-based website rating airline product and safety, in a statement. 

"The last two years have been extremely difficult for airlines with Covid-19 slashing travel and Airline Ratings editors have particularly focused on the lengths airlines are undertaking to retrain pilots ahead of a return to service."

Etihad Airways came in second place, with Qatar Airways taking third, Singapore Airlines going fourth and TAP Portugal rounding out the top five. 

Qantas, the world's safest airline the past several years, came in seventh place, likely as a result of an October Boeing flight that was diverted due to a fuel imbalance and deemed a "serious incident." 

The top 20 airlines determined by the website is noticeably missing Southwest Airlines, which was ranked 13th in 2021. The full list includes: 

1. Air New Zealand

2. Etihad Airways

3. Qatar Airways

4. Singapore Airlines

5. TAP Air Portugal

6. SAS

7. Qantas

8. Alaska Airlines

9. EVA Air

10. Virgin Australia/Virgin Atlantic

11. Cathay Pacific Airways

12. Hawaiian Airlines

13. American Airlines

14. Lufthansa

15. Finnair

16. KLM

17. British Airways

18. Delta Air Lines

19. United Airlines

20. Emirates