The world's have been revealed but aviation experts have warned consumers are still choosing price over safety when planning a trip.
While Australian airlines Qantas and Virgin Australia were named in the top 20 safest in AirlineRatings.com's report, the website's Editor-In-Chief still felt the price was a bigger factor for the consumer than safety.
"Price is still the largest factor in choice of travel," aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas told SBS News.
"It's still a great concern for the industry... airlines out there who don't do audits and who do have lots of serious incidents and are charging very, very cheap fares.
"A passenger, for instance, wants to fly Qantas or Virgin Australia but wants to have the airfare from the lowest cost airline they can find. The two are incompatible. You get what you pay for."
Of the 20 safest airlines named in the list, Mr Thomas admitted a ticket for a seat didn't come cheap compared to low-cost carriers.
File image of Sydney Airport from July 2017. Source: AAP
"Airlines like Qantas, Virgin Australia, Air New Zealand or Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines, these are the best of the best and that doesn't come cheap," he said.
But he cautioned passengers who were seeking cheap tickets to pay more attention to an airline's safety record.
"Passengers should look more carefully at the airlines they fly on. When they do choose a very inexpensive airline and things go wrong... well that's because they've chosen an inexpensive airline."
However, with a higher public interest in finding affordable travel, also narrowed down the ten safest low-cost carriers, with Jetstar Australia making the list.
The low-cost airlines named (see list below) had all passed the International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) and have an excellent safety record, according to the report.
How an airline can get a bad rating
The website has also named the world's worst-rated airlines for safety - these include Nepal Airlines, Air Koryo and Buddha Air.
Mr Thomas said the safety ratings weren't based on incidents but their crash record in the last ten years and the fleet age of their airlines.
"We certainly measure the crash record, if an airline has had a fatal crash in the last ten years they lose a star on the system," he said.
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World's safest airlines named
"We deem it takes an airline up to ten years to rectify safety deficiencies that would've caused the crash.
He said the biggest safety concerns for airlines were non-compliance and failure to complete audits.
"Airlines that do audits have a safety record almost three times better than airlines that don't," he said.
"Qantas has never had a crash or fatality in the jet era.
"Australian airlines feature strongly in our assessment... they're very good airlines with an excellent reputation. They're at the forefront of new technologies and airplane designs.
The safety rating system has been used for more than five years.
Safest year on record for commercial jet planes
2017 was deemed the safest year on record as there were no commercial passenger jet fatalities recorded.
However, this hasn't eased passengers fear of flying, according to Mr Thomas.
"One reason is we like to be in control and [while flying] you don't know where you are going.
"For many people, flight is still a mystery... so any bump or noise can send people into a spin. Flying can be full of surprises."
Mr Thomas said the airline industry was doing a lot to improve the safety in the sky.
But he stopped short of backing US President Donald Trump who earlier this week took credit for US aviation safety record in 2017.
“Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation. Good news - it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!”
"I think that is the award for the best piece of 'fake news' so far from Mr Trump," Mr Thomas said.
"He had absolutely nothing to do with airline safety record in the US or anywhere for that matter."
Donald Trump has been criticised for taking credit for America's successful aviation record in 2017. Source: AAP
Safety report 'a bit shallow'
While the safety report is considered useful to airline passengers, some in the industry felt it was too vague.
Jason Middleton from the UNSW School of Aviation told SBS News that he felt the safety criteria was a bit shallow.
"The most important aspect of safety in an airline is the professionalism of the pilots, engineers and crew," he said.
"Airlines don't have to have an IOSA audit - they can choose not to or not get around to it in time.
For example, Tiger Australia was awarded a five out of seven safety rating. It automatically lost two stars for not being IOSA certified.
Mr Middleton said AirlineRatings.com was not widely respected among the airline industry's technical people as being an effective way of monitoring airline safety.
"It's highly variable and not really providing a true estimate of safety. It's nice to have but not an indication that the world's civil aviation is safe," he said.
But he did feel it was useful for the consumer when selecting an airline.
Mr Middleton agreed with the high ratings Qantas and Virgin Australia were awarded and said he also felt they were "very safe operators".
World’s Safest Airlines in alphabetical order:
- Air New Zealand
- Alaska Airlines
- All Nippon Airways
- British Airways
- Cathay Pacific Airways
- Emirates
- Etihad Airways
- EVA Air
- Finnair
- Hawaiian Airlines
- Japan Airlines
- KLM
- Lufthansa
- Qantas
- Royal Jordanian Airlines
- Scandinavian Airline System
- Singapore Airlines
- Swiss
- Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia
Top ten Low-Cost Carriers in alphabetical order:
- Aer Lingus
- Flybe
- Frontier
- HK Express
- JetBlue
- Jetstar Australia
- Thomas Cook
- Virgin America
- Vueling
- Westjet
World’s Least Safe Airlines (one star) in alphabetical order:
- Air Koryo
- Bluewing Airlines
- Buddha Air
- Nepal Airlines
- Tara Air
- Trigana Air Service
- Yeti Airlines
