Aegean leads AirAdvisor’s European airline safety index
Ryanair and Austrian Airlines took second and third place in an assessment of 20 carriers covering safety records from 2016 to 2025.
AirAdvisor has placed Aegean Airlines first in its 2026 European Airline Safety Index, awarding the Greek flag carrier 89/100. Ryanair followed with 86/100, while Austrian Airlines received 85.5/100. Aegean had no qualifying accidents during the assessment period, which ran from 2016 to 2025 inclusive.
The assessment covered 10 eligible low-cost airlines and 10 eligible mainline airlines, selected by size using EUROCONTROL’s flight volumes for 2025. Accident records drawn from the IATA Safety Report accounted for 40 per cent of each score. Certification and audits carried a 20 per cent weighting, operational safety systems 15 per cent, fleet age and technical profile 10 per cent, pilot training 10 per cent and financial stability 5 per cent.
Norwegian ranked fourth on 85/100 and SunExpress fifth on 84.5/100, putting three low-cost carriers among the leading five. Across the assessment, low-cost airlines averaged 79.2/100 against 82.8/100 for mainline operators. AirAdvisor chief executive Anton Radchenko said the two groups had similar accident records and identical average scores for safety management systems.
AirAdvisor said it used public regulatory and company information to assess operational safety, fleets, training and finances. It cautioned that the index compares carriers rather than determining whether an individual airline is safe or unsafe. British Airways, SAS and Eurowings each received the maximum 40/40 for accident records but remained outside the leading five because the overall ranking combines six factors.
