Air New Zealand has once again made the list of the top 20 safest airlines in the world.
The airline also featured on last year's list, which is compiled annually by AirlineRatings.com, an independent plane safety and product rating website.
Topping the list was Qantas, for the third year running, with the Australian carrier praised for its "extraordinary fatality-free record in the jet era".
The website provided safety ratings for 407 airlines, awarding them up to seven stars for safety. Of those surveyed, 148 were given the top seven-star safety ranking but almost 50 had just three stars or less, according to the Daily Telegraph.
READ MORE: * Air NZ in world's safest airlines * Airline Ratings rank best airlines in all classes
Here are the 20 airlines that made in the list in alphabetical order (bar Qantas, in the top spot):
1. Qantas 2. Air New Zealand 3. Alaska Airlines 4. All Nippon Airlines (ANA) 5. American Airlines 6. Cathay Pacific Airways 7. Emirates 8. Etihad Airways 9. EVA Air 10. Finnair 11. Hawaiian Airlines 12. Japan Airlines 13. KLM 14. Lufthansa 15. Scandinavian Airline System (SAS) 16. Singapore Airlines 17. Swiss 18. United Airlines 19. Virgin Atlantic 20. Virgin Australia
The safety ratings are based on a range of factors such as each airline's operational history, incident records and operational excellence.
AirlineRatings.com also identified the top 10 safest budget airlines, which have all passed the stringent International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA).
They are, in alphabetical order:
1. Aer Lingus 2. Flybe 3. HK Express 4. Jetblue 5. Jetstar Australia 6. Thomas Cook 7. TUI Fly 8. Virgin America 9. Volaris 10. Westjet
- Stuff
Last updated 12:42, January 6 2016