With its two main carriers in the top 10…

When does a holiday truly start for you? Is it the moment you fill in the sarcastically-toned out-of-office reply? Is it the packing, straining at the elbow “does this bag feel heavy to you” stage? The clock-watching, toe-tapping, “ooh Burj Khalifa” taxi ride to the airport? For many the holiday only starts to feel real, when they’re at the airport, bleary-eyed and storming towards the check-in desk, mentally rehearsing the ‘any chance of a free upgrade?’ speech.

Whenever the precise moment that slipping into ‘on vacay’ mode actually occurs, it’s probably fair to conclude that the travel experience to a destination is an essential component of that overall holiday feeling. And although we often take it for granted living in the UAE, within that experience, a feeling of safety and security is subconsciously crucial to the event’s perceived positivity.

Your exits are here, here and here

As referenced above, the UAE is by all objective measures – one of the safest countries on the planet, so it’s an unsurprising, though welcome, fact that its supremacy on the streets continues into the skies. A recent series of rankings by AirlineRatings.com – “The world’s best one-stop airline safety and product rating review website” (you have to admire the unashamed brazenness of an independent rating website, rating itself) placed all of Dubai’s commercial airlines within its top 20 Safest Airlines and Safest Low-Cost Airline indexes. (with three of the five appearing in the top 10).

The rankings are based on the following criteria: Serious incidents over the past two years; fleet age; fleet size; rate of incidents; Fatalities Profitability IOSA certification; ICAO country audit pass; and pilot skill and training.

Emirates was named third (a big jump from sixth place last year) and Etihad fifth in the main carrier category.

The full table looked like this:

  1. Air New Zealand
  2. Qantas
  3. Cathay Pacific; Qatar Airways; Emirates
  4. Virgin Australia
  5. Etihad Airways
  6. ANA
  7. EVA Air
  8. Korean Air
  9. Alaska Airlines
  10. Turkish Airlines (THY)
  11. TAP Portugal
  12. Hawaiian Airlines
  13. American Airlines
  14. SAS
  15. British Airways
  16. Iberia
  17. Finnair
  18. Lufthansa/Swiss
  19. JAL
  20. Air Canada
  21. Delta Airlines
  22. Vietnam Airlines
  23. United Airlines

Although on a personal note, the Emirates safety video remains top of our pre-flight checklist chart – shout out to the lady swatting away imaginary vape plumes.

All the thrills of travel, with slightly fewer frills

The ranking for Low-Cost carriers emerged with Jetstar taking the top spot, followed by:

  1. Hong Kong Express
  2. Jetstar Group
  3. Ryanair
  4. easyJet
  5. Frontier Airlines
  6. AirAsia
  7. Wizz Air
  8. VietJet Air
  9. Southwest Airlines
  10. Volaris
  11. flydubai
  12. Norwegian
  13. Vueling
  14. Jet2
  15. Sun Country Airlines
  16. WestJet
  17. JetBlue Airways
  18. Air Arabia
  19. IndiGo
  20. Eurowings
  21. Allegiant Air
  22. Cebu Pacific
  23. ZipAir
  24. SKY Airline
  25. Air Baltic

That’s Etihad, Emirates, Wizz Air, flydubai and Air Arabia – all featuring in, what is ostensibly, the Premier League of in flight peace-of-mind.