These are probably the most UNSAFE airlines

First the good news: Flying has become increasingly safe over the years. The risk of crashing and dying during a flight is now around 50 times smaller than when driving on the highway or cycling.

There are regular rankings that try to measure the safety of airlines. These usually look at things like the number of incidents, how old the aircraft are, and a few other factors.

ℹ️ Just a heads-up, Pirates: none of these rankings are perfect. The way each list weighs incidents is subjective, and past accidents from decades ago don't always reflect how things are run today. So please don’t use these lists as the only factor in your booking decisions. That said, they can give a general idea—like the fact that airlines in Europe tend to have high safety standards, whereas some regions, like Indonesia, still face challenges. These are often linked to things like tricky weather and less-developed infrastructure, not just the airlines themselves.

Latest safety rankings at a glance

🔍 Ranking by AirlineRatings.com

This one looked at 385 airlines and gave each a score out of 7 stars.

Several Russian airlines scored just 1 star, mainly because of sanctions limiting access to Western spare parts, raising questions about long-term maintenance.

✈️ Airlines with just 1 out of 7 stars:

• Aeroflot (Russia)

• Air Peace (Nigeria)

• Capital Airlines (China)

• Montenegro Airlines (Montenegro – no longer flying since 2020)

• Pakistan International Airlines (Pakistan)

• Pobeda, Rossiya, Ural Airlines, UTair (Russia)

• Precision Air (Tanzania)

• US-Bangla Airlines (Bangladesh)

• Wings Air (Indonesia)

📉 JACDEC Airline Safety Ranking (This one’s a bit older—about 1.5 years)

This list flagged airlines with ‘serious’ and ‘critical’ safety issues in recent years, ranking them accordingly. Being top here is not a good thing.

Airlines that came out worst:

• UTair (Russia)

• Pakistan International Airlines (Pakistan)

• Lion Air (Indonesia)

• EgyptAir (Egypt)

• Ethiopian Airlines (Ethiopia)

• Aeroflot (Russia)

• Air India (India)

• China Eastern Airlines (China)

• Vietnam Airlines (Vietnam)

• Mahan Air (Iran)

🔍 Source: Handelsblatt, Airlineratings