EVA Air ranks among some of the top global passenger carrier services (By Wikimedia Commons)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s EVA Air has been named one of the top 20 safest airlines for 2019.

Australian safety and product rating agency AirlineRatings.com published its list of the top 20 safest airlines for 2019 on Jan. 3. EVA Air ranks within the top 20 among some of the most prolific global carriers including Cathay Pacific Airways, Emirates and United Airlines.

Qantas, Australia’s largest carrier, was awarded the title of most safe airline for 2019.

According to the agency, AirlineRatings.com monitors a total of 405 global air passenger services. Ratings are informed by a wide range of indicators that include fleet age, safety initiatives, crash and serious incident records, and audits from governments and aviation industry bodies.

AirlineRatings.com editor-in-chief Geoffrey Thomas said the 20 chosen are standouts in the industry and are at the forefront of safety and innovation.

Only serious incidents configure into safety calculations, Thomas commented, as airlines have incidents everyday but many are manufacture faults rather than operational issues. A good airline is determined by the way the crew handles problems, he added.

EVA Air was ranked as the best long-haul airline in Asia by the website last year. Thomas lauded EVA for its new aircrafts, cabin innovations and routes.

EVA Air has expanded services to Japan for 2019 with three new routes, increasing the number of flights by 19 percent. Flights to Nagoya, Aomori and Matsuyama airports from Taipei Taoyuan will begin this summer.

AirlineRatings.com was launched in June 2013 and has become the industry standard for air passenger service safety and product rating. It rates the safety of 405 airlines using a seven-star rating system.