Europe’s safest airlines revealed – and budget carriers are giving traditional airlines

A Greek airline has been named Europe’s safest, beating dozens of competitors in a new ranking that assessed everything from accident records to pilot training.

Aegean Airlines topped AirAdvisor’s 2026 European Safety Index with a score of 89 out of 100, earning full marks for its safety record after recording no qualifying accidents over the past decade.

The ranking assessed 20 European carriers – ten traditional airlines and ten low-cost operators – using flight volumes reported by Eurocontrol for 2025. Six categories were considered, including operational safety, fleet, certification and audits, pilot training and financial stability, with data spanning 2016 to 2025.

Aegean scored five out of five for financial stability, helping it secure the top spot. 

The carrier scored a perfect 40 out of 40 for its safety record, having had no qualifying accidents during the ten-year period, and received five out of five for financial stability.

Aegean Airlines ranked first in AirAdvisor’s 2026 European Safety Index

Ryanair followed in second place and was praised for its strong operational safety systems

It scored 13 out of 15 for operational safety, with AirAdvisor highlighting its ‘well-documented Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) system and Safety Management System (SMS)’. It also received nine out of ten for its modern fleet.

AirAdvisor praised the Athens-based carrier for its ‘consistent performance with no weak categories’.

Ryanair managed to secure second place and scored 86 out of 100. 

The budget airline boasts an excellent ten-year safety record from between 2016 and 2025 of 38/40. 

It lost two points for the two non-fatal accidents in 2023. In April, a Ryanair jet’s nose wheel collapsed while landing at Dublin airport. An emergency was declared and no injuries reported at the time. 

In October, a Ryanair plane collided with an airport passenger assistance truck at Stansted Airport. Again, no injuries were reported, the BBC reported.

Ryanair’s strong operational safety systems, such as the use of operational flight data monitoring, bagged it a score of 13/15.

However, the airline made headlines over the summer when a passenger was partially sucked out of a window, though the time period of the analysis meant this incident was not included in the research.

Austrian Airlines made the top three, followed by Norwegian and SunExpress

Austrian Airlines, Norwegian and SunExpress followed in third, fourth and fifth.

Low-cost carriers fared quite well in the rankings, with three making the top five, and managing to achieve relatively close average scores compared to their traditional counterparts. 

Traditional airlines scored 82.8/100 on average, while low-cost averaged 79.2/100 – only a 3.6-point difference. 

The research also found low-cost carriers generally have younger fleets, meaning bargain fares don’t always mean flying on older planes.

‘A young fleet can bring technological and efficiency advantages, but aircraft age should never be treated as a safety rating on its own,’ Anton Radchenko, founder and CEO of AirAdvisor, added. 

‘An older aircraft that is properly maintained can continue operating safely for decades.’ 

In last year’s report, which looked at accidents from 2005 to 2024 and 15 European airlines, Aegean Airlines was named the top again.

Norwegian Air Shuttle ranked second, followed by Volotea. 

The Daily Mail approached Pegasus Airlines for comment.