The World's Safest Airlines

Good news for those of us plagued with a fear of flying: The Telegraph just published a list of 2017's safest airlines, with Australia's Qantas topping the list for the fourth year in a row.

The experts at AirlineRatings monitored a total of 425 airlines, evaluating track records and fleet history, to come up with a list of the 20 safest. Qantas was crowned king once again due to its continued implementation of stellar operations and improvements over its 96-year history. A number of major U.S. carriers, including Alaska, Hawaiian, Delta and United Airlines also made the overall cut, with JetBlue and Virgin America topping a separate roundup of safest budget airlines.

Here are AirlineRatings' 20 safest airlines, listed in alphabetical order:

① Air New Zealand

② Alaska Airlines

③ All Nippon Airways

④ British Airways

⑤ Cathay Pacific

⑥ Delta Air Lines

⑦ Etihad Airways

⑧ EVA Air

⑨ Finnair

⑩ Hawaiian Airlines

⑪ Japan Airlines

⑫ KLM

⑬ Lufthansa

⑭ Qantas

⑮ Scandinavian Airline System

⑯ Singapore Airlines

⑰ Swiss

⑱ United Airlines

⑲ Virgin Atlantic

⑳ Virgin Australia

The study also noted that 2016 was the second-safest year in air travel history, highlighting a continuing decline in aviation incidents over the past 20 years. Wanderlusters and frequent flyers take note: 2017 is looking better than ever.