Michael Shum

HK Express has been named the world's safest budget airline while Air New Zealand retained its title as the safest traditional airline, according to a recent evaluation by AirlineRatings.com.

The assessment analyzed 385 air carriers worldwide.

Rankings are based on key factors such as fleet age, size, incident frequency, fatalities, financial performance, safety audit results and pilot skills and training.

AirlineRatings.com selected the 25 safest traditional and 25 safest budget carriers.

HK Express, part of the Cathay group, was followed by Australia's Jetstar Group and Ireland's Ryanair.

It marks the second accolade for HK Express, which was also named the fastest growing airline of the past year by global travel data platform OAG last week.

In the traditional airline category, Air New Zealand was followed in the safety stakes by its rival across the Tasman Sea, Qantas.

Hong Kong's flagship airline, Cathay Pacific, shared third place with Qatar Airways and Emirates.

Virgin Australia and Etihad Airways secured fourth and fifth, respectively, with Japan's All Nippon Airways, Taiwan's Eva Air and Korean Air following.

Notably, two traditional airlines were absent from the rankings: Singapore Airlines and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

Singapore Airlines flight SQ321, which was traveling from London Heathrow to Singapore's Changi Airport, encountered severe in-flight turbulence in May that forced a diversion to Thailand's Suvarnabhumi Airport.

The incident resulted in one fatality and 104 injuries among the 229 passengers.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines also faced a fatal incident when a person was sucked into the engine of one of its aircraft.

Another plane from the carrier skidded off the runway during an emergency landing last month, though fortunately there were no injuries.

HK Express flies high as safest budget airline