6 Tools to Check Airline Safety of Boeing 737 Max and other Aircraft Before Booking Flight Deals

I am sure you have heard by now that planes all over the world are being grounded due to safety concerns. These decisions were made after it is was determined that there were similarities between the Boeing 737 Max crashes involving Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air flights; but did you know there are ways that you can check to make sure that the planes you are flying in, or the airlines you are flying with, meet best practices for airline safety standards.

In fact, before I book any flight deal or any flight using my low-cost and budget airlines directory, I check the airline safety record using the free tools listed below to give myself some peace of mind.

Government and Non-Governmental Organization Airline Safety Monitoring Tools

U.S. Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) Program monitors the regulations of different countries in order to determine whether it believes that minimum airline safety standards it has set for all aircraft operators flying into U.S. airspace have been met. The FAA IASA Program divides countries into two categories:
- Category 1 countries who have acceptable aviation oversight; and
- Category 2 countries who do not have acceptable aviation oversight. Airlines from Category 2 countries are restricted from having flight operations in U.S. airspace until corrective measures are put in place.

It is important to note that countries also disappear from the IASA Program list after 4 years if airlines from such countries do not plan to fly into U.S. airspace or codeshare with U.S. airlines in the foreseeable future.

European Union Air Safety List is an airline safety list that indicates all airlines that (i) that are banned from maintaining flight operations within the European Union and (ii) have specific operating restrictions for certain aircraft. The airline safety list can be downloaded as a PDF or searched by country via an interactive tool available on the EU website. While the list does call out specific airlines, the European Union (similar to the FAA) will also ban all aircraft operators from a certain country if it believe that country doesn’t comply with a certain safety standard.

United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) audits the operations and maintenance protocol of aircraft operators. The ICAO Safety Audit Tool reviews just how well countries are monitoring their airlines relative to international airline safety standards. You can compare countries’ performance using this tool.

Airline Safety Tools Offered by Airline Industry Associations

International Air Transport Association’s Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) is the benchmark for global safety management in airlines. International Air Transport Association (IATA) is one of the most well-known trade associations for the airline industry. The IATA audit inspects airlines to make sure they meet or exceed international operational airline safety requirements, and looks at an airline’s safety across areas including flight operations, ground handling, security management, and maintenance. An airline registered as IOSA-compliant must renew this status every two years. The website shows which airlines have undergone the airline safety audit, as well as the expiration date.

Airline Safety Tools Offered by Private Companies

Aviation Safety Network is a website that keeps track of airline accidents, hijackings or other incidents. This tool is a good way to evaluate if a particular airline or aircraft is susceptible to an increased number of incidents which could compromise airline safety.
AirlineRatings.com is a website that has a 7-star rating system ranking airline safety. The rating system is searchable by country of origin, airline code, booking URL and seat map information. The rating system also takes into account audits from aviation governing bodies, leading trade associations and airline operator safety data.

Hope the above list is helpful to you as it is to me in determining airline safety and whether a flight deal or saving some money by flying on a low-cost airline may be too good to be true.