The past year has proved to be yet another incredibly difficult one for airlines as the slump in air travel continued throughout 2021 due to the impact of the ongoing pandemic. Even now, two years after Covid-19 was first brought to the world's attention, there are still far fewer flights and passengers taking to the skies. The virus has also continued to dominated conversations around air safety, leading to some significant changes in the annual list of the world's safest airlines from AirlineRatings.com, an airline safety and product review website. This year, Air New Zealand has come out on top on the annual safety table, which monitors 385 carriers from across the globe, measuring factors such as the airlines' crash and serious incident records, the age of their aircraft, as well as Covid-19 protocols and operational innovation. The flag carrier airline for New Zealand was awarded first place "due to its excellent incident record, number of cockpit innovations, pilot training and very low fleet age," according to Geoffrey Thomas, editor-in-chief of the Australian-based website. Etihad Airways took second place, while Qatar Airways came in third, with Singapore Airlines and TAP Portugal achieving fourth and fifth place respectively. Noticeably missing from the top five is Qantas, which held the title of world's safest airline from 2014 to 2017, as well as 2019 to 2021 (no clear winner could be found in 2018). Australia's flag carrier takes seventh place this time due to a "slight increase in incidents coupled with the fleet age."<br/>
star
An airline has reportedly flown 3,000 empty flights this winter, in an environmentally damaging effort to keep its landing slots. Belgium’s Brussels Airlines says it will have to operate a further 3,000 under-capacity journeys up to the end of March – while its parent company will fly 15,000 more. The revelations – which will infuriate climate experts – heap pressure on the European Union to further ease rules on airport take-off and landing slots. ‘Ghost flights’, which see virtually empty planes emit vast quantities of carbon into the atmosphere despite having few or no passengers on board, have been a feature of the pandemic. But carriers say the requirement for them to use 50% of their slots – down from 80% in pre-pandemic days – is forcing them to fly or face losing the entitlements. A sluggish return to air travel – with tourists delaying plans due to the Omicron Covid variant and fears about quickly changing restrictions – is dragging out the practice longer than airlines had planned. Brussels Airlines’ parent company Lufthansa warned last month it expected it would have to run 18,000 ‘pointless flights’ over the European winter. Brussels Airlines had already flown 3,000 unnecessary flights. Belgium’s transport minister, Georges Gilkinet, has written to the EC urging it to loosen the slot rules, arguing the consequences run counter to the EU’s carbon-neutral ambitions. The current reduced quotas were introduced in March last year in a nod to the hardship airlines were facing from a second year of Covid. In December, the commission said the 50% threshold would be raised to 64% for this year’s April-to-November summer flight season.<br/>