( CNN ) Aviation website AirlineRatings.com has just released its annual list of the world 's 10 safest airlines . Once again , Australian airline Qantas grabs the top spot . `` Qantas continues to lead the industry with safety innovations and its fleet is now the youngest -- 7.9 years -- it has been since the airline was privatized in 1995 , '' AirlineRatings.com editor Geoffrey Thomas tells CNN . He says the airline is an industry benchmark for best practice and has taken the lead in virtually every major advancement in airline safety over the past 60 years . Rounding out the rest of the top 10 in alphabetical order are : Air New Zealand , British Airways , Cathay Pacific Airways , Emirates , Etihad Airways , EVA Air , Finnair , Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines . `` Our top 10 safest airlines are always at the forefront of safety innovation and launching new planes , '' says Thomas . AirlineRatings.com 's rating system takes into account audits from aviation 's governing bodies and lead associations as well as government audits and the airlines ' fatality records . It also examines airlines ' operational histories , incident records and operational excellence . Of the the 449 airlines it monitors , 149 have the top seven-star safety ranking . This year , the site also included a list of the top 10 safest low cost airlines for 2015 . These are , in alphabetical order : Aer Lingus ( Ireland ) , Alaska Airlines ( U.S ) , Icelandair ( Iceland ) , Jetblue ( U.S. ) , Jetstar ( Australia ) , Kulula.com ( South Africa ) , Monarch Airlines ( UK ) , Thomas Cook ( UK ) , TUIfly ( Germany ) and WestJet ( Canada ) . `` Unlike a number of low cost carriers these airlines have all passed the stringent International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit audit and have excellent safety records , '' says Thomas . `` Low cost does not mean low safety . '' One fatal accident for every 1.3 million flights . The release of the AirlineRatings.com list comes at a particularly sensitive time for fliers . While 2013 was one of the safest years in global aviation history , 2014 is considered one of the worst in recent years in terms of fatalities , due to several high-profile air incidents . AirlineRatings.com says there were 21 fatal accidents with 986 fatalities in 2014 -- higher than the 10-year average . However , looking to the positive there were only 111 crashes in 2014 , the lowest number in more than 80 years says the Geneva-based Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives , or BAAA . The last time the world had 111 crashes was in 1927 . `` If you consider sheer numbers of aircraft crashes , flying today is safer , '' says Kane Ray , an analyst with the International Bureau of Aviation , a global aviation consulting group . `` However , there are more aircraft in the sky , so naturally the overall number may appear similar to previous decades and , in some categories of disaster , higher . '' According to a report on AirlineRatings.com , the world 's airlines carried a record 3.3 billion passengers on 27 million flights in 2014 . `` Flashback 50 years and there were a staggering 87 crashes killing 1,597 when airlines carried only 141 million passengers -- 5 % of today 's number , '' says the website . `` Another twist is that fatal accidents for 2014 were at a record low 21 -- one for every 1.3 million flights . Two of the crashes last year -- MH370 and MH17 -- were unprecedented in modern times and claimed 537 lives . '' In March , Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 aboard . Officials believe that plane is somewhere in the Indian Ocean . But , nearly 10 months later , MH370 has n't been found . In July , Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine , killing all 298 aboard . Malaysia Airlines has a five out of seven ranking on AirlineRatings.com . AirAsia Indonesia -- still reeling from the crash of Flight QZ8501 , which went down over the Java Sea on December 28 with 162 people on board -- has a four out of seven star ranking . Prior to December , AirAsia had a near flawless safety record , with no previous fatal accidents . World 's unsafest airlines . AirlineRatings.com says if an airline has a crash that involves the death of a passenger and/or crew members it will automatically receive a deduction of one star , giving it a lower safety rating . `` A crash involving fatalities carries with it a one star deduction for 10 years from the date of the incident , '' says the website on a page explaining its ratings system . Of the 449 airlines surveyed by AirlineRatings.com , nearly 50 have just three stars or less . Four airlines only achieved one star for safety . Two are from Nepal -- Tara Air and Nepal Airlines -- joining Kazakhstan 's Scat Airlines and Afghanistan 's Kam Air . All four are on a list of airlines banned from flying within the European Union . The United States does n't blacklist individual airlines , but it does make public a list of countries it judges to fall short of international aviation safety standards . CNN 's Holly Yan contributed to this report .
Aviation site AirlineRatings.com says Qantas remains the world 's safest airline . Of the the 449 airlines the website monitors , 149 have the top seven-star safety ranking . The world 's airlines reportedly carried a record 3.3 billion passengers on 27 million flights in 2014 .