Top 10 Safest Airlines to Fly on in 2024

Kevin Carter // Getty Images

Top 10 safest airlines to fly on in 2024

The U.S. airline industry is facing questions about safety after a string of concerning events in the beginning of 2025.

The most notorious occurred on Jan. 29, when an Army-operated Blackhawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines passenger jet in mid-air outside the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Tragically, all 67 individuals aboard the two aircraft perished. Days later on Jan. 31, another fatal incident made headlines—seven people died and more than a dozen were injured after an air ambulance crashed into a street in Philadelphia.

Throughout the month of February, more deadly crashes followed: a commuter plane crashed in Alaska, killing 10; two private planes collided in Scottsdale, killing one; and two single-engine planes collided in the air above Arizona's Marana Regional Airport, killing two. Also in the same month, a Delta Air Lines plane overturned on a runway in Toronto, though all passengers and crew survived.

Airlines must report all safety incidents to the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates each occurrence and recommends that the FAA bolster safety. (Data about these incidents, once reported to government agencies, is open to the public.) The NTSB is still investigating the Jan. 29 episode, which prompted President Donald Trump to promise an overhaul of the Federal Aviation Administration's air traffic control system.

In the meantime, these incidents have left some travelers wondering about the safety of U.S. airlines or flying in general. Google Trends data shows that searches for the term "How safe is flying" spiked in February 2025. However, a February 2025 analysis of NTSB data shows that thus far, 2025 has seen a below-average level of aviation accidents.

Still, certain airlines remain safer than others. To find out which U.S. airlines have the best and worst safety records, Stacker looked at WalletHub's 2024 report on this year's best airlines and narrowed the data to the safety section of the study, which looked at two metrics from 2018 to 2023: 1) the number of fatal injuries in aviation accidents and 2) the number of injuries in aviation incidents and accidents. The 10 national airlines studied were then ranked from least to most safe. The maximum score an airline can achieve is 35 points.

Read on to see how your airline of choice—and its competitors—rank.

You may also like: A stoner's guide to summer travel: Where you can, and definitely should not, consume weed

A Southwest Airlines airplane in flight against blue skies. The plane is painted in the airline's signature colors of blue, red and yellow.

1 / 10

lorenzatx // Shutterstock

#10. Southwest Airlines

- Safety score: 4.52

Not only did Southwest Airlines have the lowest score in WalletHub's safety reporting on U.S. airlines, but in July 2024, the FAA placed the airline under a safety audit after a string of close calls on its flights. In May, for example, a Southwest flight went into a Dutch roll, which is when the plane's wings oscillate, causing the nose to make a figure-eight motion. No one was injured, and the FAA said the incident resulted from damage to the tail, which controls the rudder. However, in December 2024, the FAA closed its investigation without finding any overall safety concerns at Southwest.

2 / 10

Robin Guess // Shutterstock

#9. United Airlines

- Safety score: 20

In March 2024, the FAA said it was bumping up oversight of United after those aforementioned incidents involving wheels and tires lost and skidding off runways. That oversight prevented United from adding new routes and required the FAA to be present during inspections of new planes to replace old ones in the airline's fleet. United's CEO, Scott Kirby, has pledged to refocus the company on safety and review its policies. In mid-May 2024, the FAA cleared United to add new aircraft and routes once again, and the organization's full review ended in October 2024 with no significant issues found.

Two commercial Hawaiian airlines airplanes with tropical flower design parked at an airport.

3 / 10

MC MEDIASTUDIO // Shutterstock

#8. Hawaiian Airlines

- Safety score: 21.73

As of Feb. 22, 2025, the NTSB hasn't had to investigate any incidents aboard Hawaiian Airlines flights so far this year. In fact, Hawaiian Airlines is also the nation's oldest carrier that's never had a fatal accident in its 95-year history. However, Hawaiian is also quite a bit smaller than other stateside airlines. It operates about 260 flights each day, most of which are leaving from or arriving in Hawai'i. For comparison, other major U.S. carriers manage upwards of 4,000 flights per day.

4 / 10

HMBSoFL Photography // Shutterstock

#7. JetBlue

- Safety score: 23.06

In early 2025, the NTSB launched an investigation of JetBlue's preflight safety practices after two deceased stowaways were discovered in a plane's wheel well. That's not JetBlue's only recent investigation, though—the FAA opened another in February 2024, after a JetBlue plane collided with another aircraft on the ground while it was getting in place to deice. No one was injured.

Multiple commercial Delta airplanes parked at an airport gate on a clear sunny day.

5 / 10

JHVEPhoto // Shutterstock

#6. Delta Air Lines

- Safety score: 23.89

Delta Air Lines operates at high volume—about 5,000 flights daily and 200 million customers in 2024. In February 2025, a Delta Air Lines plane flipped over at Toronto Pearson International Airport—miraculously, all 80 individuals on board survived, though at least 18 were injured. The crash is still under investigation.

You may also like: Jumping the security line: What to know about programs like TSA PreCheck and Clear

American Airlines airplane parked at a gate. There is a tall control tower in the background with a dome structure on top. Behind the tower there are mountains in the distance.

6 / 10

Markus Mainka // Shutterstock

#5. American Airlines

- Safety score: 23.98

Tragedy struck American Airlines in January 2025, when a fatal mid-air collision with a Blackhawk helicopter above the Potomac River led to the deaths of all 64 passengers and three helicopter pilots aboard the two aircraft. The exact cause of the crash remains under investigation. Beyond this incident, however, a union for American Airlines pilots said in April 2024 that it noticed "a significant spike in safety- and maintenance-related problems."

7 / 10

Ali Chehade Farhat // Shutterstock

#4. SkyWest Airlines

- Safety score: 28.64

SkyWest Airlines, headquartered in Utah, is a regional airline with nearly 500 planes in its fleet. It operates through carrier partnerships with American, United, Delta, and Alaska Airlines. The airline has had a clean record with the NTSB since the middle of 2022. In June 2023, however, airline unions accused SkyWest of trying to evade safety regulations for passenger airlines by operating some flights as charters. The FAA also began investigating the airline's maintenance program in September 2024.

8 / 10

Ceri Breeze // Shutterstock

#3. Frontier Airlines

- Safety score: 29.94

Colorado-based Frontier Airlines is more similar in size to Hawaiian than the major U.S. airlines like American, Delta, and United. It operates about 500 flights per day, and the only notable safety issue in recent history was an emergency landing in Las Vegas in October 2024. However, no passengers or crew were injured.

9 / 10

GingChen // Shutterstock

#2. Alaska Airlines

- Safety score: 32.04

Alaska Airlines may have had the most infamous airline safety issue of 2024, in which a door plug flew off midflight, but much of the fallout came to airplane manufacturer, Boeing. Despite the frightening situation, the airline still has one of the highest ratings for safety. In AirlineRatings.com's annual report, Alaska was the only U.S. airline to rank in the top 10 for 2025.

Bright yellow Spirit Airlines airplane in flight aginst blue skies.

10 / 10

Robin Guess // Shutterstock

#1. Spirit Airlines

- Safety score: 33.07

Travelers may joke about Spirit Airlines for giving passengers a no-frills experience on board its flights, but the low-cost carrier's safety record is serious business. In 2024, Spirit topped WalletHub's list for the second year in a row. The FAA also awarded Spirit the Aviation Maintenance Technician Diamond Award of Excellence every year from 2019 to 2024. More recently, CNN reported in February 2025 that the recent slew of high-profile aviation accidents among other airlines has led many flyers directly to Spirit's signature, bright-yellow jets.