Rwandair has been ranked among the safest airlines globally by an Australian based rating website, airlineratings.com. The national carrier scored five points out of seven points. 

Other top rated airlines (on safety consideration) include Kenya Airways, British Airways, Emirates, Ethiopian Airlines, Etihad, Qantans Airline, and Lufthansa Airlines.

The survey looked at the safety worthiness of over 450 carriers across the globe, the website indicated. It also used International Air Transport Association (IATA) operational safety audits, American Federal Aviation Administration endorsement, as well as data from aviation associations and agencies, and crash data, among others, to determine the safest airlines.

John Mirenge, the RwandAir chief executive officer, said the rating reflected government’s continued efforts towards making the airline one of the safest on the continent.

"We agree with the rating and the methodology employed…there is no doubt about RwandAir’s safety,” he told The New Times yesterday.

He, however, complained that the rating agency had not accredited the airline’s credentials, product rage for the last five years. "If this had been done, we could have been rated even higher than we were,” he added. Mirenge has dismissed some media reports, which had earlier questioned the safety of the airline as baseless.

"There have been malicious reports by some media websites, which are misleading the public about our safety record. We are yet to establish the source and motive of these messages,” he added.

RwandAir received a certificate of safety worthiness recently, after passing the IATA operational safety audit (IOSA). This qualifies it to fly to any part of the world.

business@newtimes.co.rw