The national airline of Australia is often referred to as the only carrier in the world not having sustained fatal incidents. Though this is not the truth, the last fatality onboard one of its aircraft dates back to 1951 and Qantas’ safety record allows the airline to be officially known as the world’s safest for seven years in a row from 2012 until 2019. Accustomed to long- and very long-haul operations because of the geographical isolation of Australia, in March 2018 the airline was the first ever to fly non-stop between Europe and Australia by linking London (LHR) to Perth using one of its Boeing 787-9s. This service paved the way for the so-called Sunrise Project, a series of experimental flights aimed at opening a non-stop service between London and Sydney, with a flight time exceeding the 20 hours mark. Only one of these trial flights was actually flown (successfully, in November 2019) before the Covid pandemic disrupted commercial aviation worldwide, causing a projected delay of a couple of years in the progress of Sunrise Project (Photo Wikimedia Commons / Vismay Badra)
- - 5 STARS: Awarded to airlines achieving a very high, overall quality performance. It recognizes high standards of onboard product together with consistent and excellent standards of staff service across airport and cabin environments
- - 4 STARS: Awarded to airlines that deliver a good overall quality performance and provide good product standards across different travel cabins
- - 3 STARS: Awarded to airlines delivering a fair quality performance equating to the industry 'average' of acceptable product and service standards
- - 2 STARS: Shows airlines delivering a lower total quality performance, in some instances below the industry average across many rating categories
- - 1 STAR: Represents a poor quality of product delivered across the assessment sectors