7.Ultra-Low Cost Carriers: Frontier, Spirit, Allegiant
US-based “ultra-low cost carriers” Frontier, Spirit and Allegiant have all yet to have a fatal accident. That said, their current safety situations vary widely.
Although it ranks among the bottom in customer satisfaction, Frontier currently maintains a perfect 7-star safety rating from Airline Ratings and has yet to have a serious accident in its 22-year history.
On the other end of the spectrum, Allegiant Airlines has recently experienced a number of incidents. A recent survey of Allegiant pilots (PDF) indicates some serious concerns about pilot fatigue and overscheduling, and the president of the pilot’s union reports that “Almost half of the pilots said they will not allow their own families to fly on the aircraft.” So, Allegiant is an airline where — as they say — “past performance is not necessarily a predictor of future results.”
Spirit Airlines is somewhere in the middle. Over the past couple of years, Spirit has experienced a few airborne maintenance incidents, and the airline lacks an optional IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certification. However, Spirit has kept an accident-free record with an ever-growing passenger base. In 2015 alone, Spirit safely delivered nearly 18 million passengers — a 25% increase from 2014.
8.International Low-Cost Carriers: Ryanair and EasyJet
When you hear “low-cost carrier,” you might wonder if part of the savings might come from skimping on maintenance. As is the case with the US ultra-low cost carriers mentioned above, you might be pleased to learn both Ryanair and EasyJet haven’t had a fatality.
In fact, the worst incident I could find on either airline was an emergency landing required by a Ryanair flight after experiencing multiple bird strikes — the same cause of the “Miracle on the Hudson.” Although the plane was damaged beyond economic repair, there were just ten minor injuries from the incident.
From 2011-2015, Ryanair safety delivered nearly 400 million passengers on 2.5 million flights, while in 2015 EasyJet flew 68.6 million passengers.
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