Revealed! World's safest airlines 2016

Qantas has been named the world's safest airline for the third year in a row.

The Australian airline came top in AirlineRating.com's list was praised for its "fatality free record in the jet era".

SEE ALSO: THE BEST AIRLINES IN THE WORLD REVEALED

Safety and product rating website, AirlineRatings.com, took into account a range of factors related to audits from aviation's governing bodies and lead associations as well as government audits and crash records when compiling the top 20 list. It also examined each airline's operational history, incident records and operational excellence.

SEE ALSO: WORLD'S LONGEST FLIGHT ON BIGGEST PLANE TAKES OFF

In selecting Qantas as the world's safest airline, the website noted that "in its 95-year history the world's oldest continuously operating airline has amassed an extraordinary record of firsts in operations and safety and is now accepted as the industry's most experienced carrier."

Other airlines which received a high safety ranking include Cathay Pacific, Emirates and KLM. Virgin Atlantic was the only UK airline which featured in the list.

AirlineRatings.com also named the top ten safest low-cost airlines, which include Aer Lingus, Flybe, Thomas Cook, TUI Fly, Virgin America and Westjet.

Of the 407 airlines surveyed, 148 received seven stars, while 10 carriers have just one star and these are from Indonesia, Nepal and Surinam.

Top 20 safest airlines in the world 2016 (in alphabetical order):

Air New Zealand
Alaska Airlines
All Nippon Airlines
American Airlines
Cathay Pacific Airways
Emirates
Etihad Airways
EVA Air
Finnair
Hawaiian Airlines
Japan Airlines
KLM
Lufthansa
Qantas
Scandinavian Airline System
Singapore Airlines
Swiss
United Airlines
Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Australia

%VIRTUAL-TripAdvisorWidget%