KLM named Europe’s safest airline; Second safest globally

KLM was named Europe’s safest airline in a report from the Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Center (JACDEC) based on 2021 data. The Dutch company ranked second globally, beaten out by Emirates, which was also awarded the top position a year earlier.

Emirates received a score of 95.05 percent from the JACDEC, which conducts its annual survey for the aviation magazine Aero International. KLM came in with a score of 93.31 percent. The American airlines JetBlue and Delta Air Lines ranked third and fourth, with Easyjet rounding out the top five. Crashes and incidents from the past weighed more heavily in the rankings than usual because of the significant decrease in miles flown by commercial passenger jets during the coronavirus pandemic.

It was the first time that the JACDEC also created continental rankings because airlines with a strong home market in countries such as China and the United States had a major advantage in terms of miles flown. In Europe, KLM topped the list, ahead of Finnair and Air Europa.

KLM subsidiary Transavia came in fourth place. Some well-known airlines such as Austrian Airlines and Eurowings did not make the list at all because they did not fly enough passenger miles last year.

Surprisingly, Emirates did not rank number one on its own regional list. The airline was the runner-up to Etihad Airways, which was not able to claim a position on the global list due to its size.