Qantas lost its title as the world’s safest airline for the first time since 2013 due to Covid pilot losses and a ‘serious incident’.

Australia’s flagship airline has seen a sharp drop in Airline Ratings’ annual list of safest airlines to seventh place, and has been replaced at the top by Air New Zealand.

Qantas has been named the safest airline in the world by 2014 to 2017 and 2019 to 2021, and no clear winner could be found in 2018.

Air New Zealand was followed by two Middle Eastern airlines, Etihad and Qatar. Virgin Australia/Virgin Atlantic is ranked number 10.

Airline ratings review 385 carriers around the world, measuring factors such as airline accident and serious incident records, the age of their planes and Covid-19 protocols.

Air New Zealand won the top spot this year “due to its excellent incident record, number of cockpit innovations, pilot training and very low fleet age,” Geoffrey said. Thomas, editor of the airline safety and product review website.

The average age of Air New Zealand aircraft is just 6.8 years and it has been at the forefront of technical improvements in security.

These include the future air navigation system for pilot-to-ground communication and the navigation performance required for precision approaches around mountains in cloudy conditions.

An Air New Zealand stewardess (pictured) walks through the cabin before disembarking flight number 246 on April 19, 2021 in Wellington, New Zealand

A Qantas staff stewardess wearing a face mask as she talks to a passenger on board Qantas flight QF143 to Auckland at Kingsford Smith Airport in Sydney on April 19, 2021

“Air New Zealand excelled across the broad spectrum of safety, never losing sight of the smallest detail while caring for its flight crews who worked under significant stress,” Mr Thomas said.

Airline Ratings said Qantas dropped from the list due to a 2018 incident at Perth airport which led to an Australian Transport Safety Board investigation which was completed in 2020.

The ATSB discovered that complex issues had resulted in a Qantas plane landing and taxiing to a different runway where another Qantas plane was preparing to take off.

Air traffic control and the plane’s crew became aware and stopped just before crossing onto the second runway.

The report on this incident was only published at the end of 2020, too late to be included in the 2021 security ranking.

“The past two years have been extremely difficult for airlines with Covid-19 curtailing travel and the airline ratings editors have been particularly focused on how long airlines are undertaking to retrain pilots before a return to duty. service,” Thomas said.

“Air New Zealand is a leader in this area with comprehensive retraining.”

Air New Zealand chief executive Greg Foran said the airline was “humbled” to receive the recognition.

“We are in good company and a big thumbs up to all the airlines on the list,” he said.

“Air New Zealand’s promise is to take manaaki (care) further. To do this, we need to take our approach to safety further. first – it’s always about safety. We want everyone to come home safe every day.

“Throughout the pandemic, the entire Air New Zealand team has been focused on protecting the health and safety of our employees, customers and the wider New Zealand community.

“We were the first airline in the world to require our customers traveling on our domestic flights to be vaccinated or tested before boarding and on February 1 we will require all customers on our international flights to be fully vaccinated as well. .”

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Qantas to comment on its downgrade.

Middle Eastern airline Etihad Airways is ranked the second safest airline in the world in 2022, according to airlineratings.com