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Qantas has been named the world's safest airline for 2019. Thanks to a 60-year streak as a fatality-free commercial jetliner, Qantas tops Airlineratings.com's latest ranking of the top 20 airlines in the world. "It is extraordinary that Qantas has been the lead airline in virtually every major operational safety advancement over the past 60 years and has not had a fatality in the jet era," said editor-in-chief Geoffrey Thomas. Along with being the world's oldest continuously operating airline, editors note that Qantas has always been a leader in aviation, be it in the development of the Future Air Navigation System; the use of flight data recorders; automatic landings; and in real-time monitoring of engines. "But Qantas is not alone. Long established airlines such as Hawaiian and Finnair have perfect records in the jet era," Thomas adds. <br/>

American Airlines is taking action to improve the lavatories on the new Boeing 737 MAX planes the carrier began taking delivery of last year. When AA’s new 737 MAXs went into service, the lavs quickly became a focus of attention among both passengers and cabin crew for, among other things, being exceedingly small. In an internal memo late month from Jill Surdek, AA VP of flight service, it was also noted that the unbending "slab doors" installed on the 2 lavs in the main cabin of the MAX opened into the aisle and could bang into each other. In addition, passengers were going into the galley area to try and manoeuvre around the slab doors. The carrier has begun replacing 1 slab door on 1 main cabin lavatory with a new bi-fold door that Boeing has made available since American rolled out its first MAX aircraft last year. <br/>