The issue of flight safety is one of the most pressing questions that, one way or another, all travelers ask. Regardless of the distance, any tourist wants the hours and minutes spent in the sky to be as calm and comfortable as possible.

Often, the choice of the airline that operates the flight completely influences all these factors. Every year, international companies compile airline ratings that reflect the entire work of the carrier and its main indicator for passengers - safety.

The Vipgeo portal presents the safest airlines in Russia and the world, according to international ratings and authoritative publications.

Important: The list of airlines was compiled based on the rating of the European Air Safety Agency aviation security- EASA. There are several other similar agencies in the world, and their data may differ slightly.

Safe airlines in Russia

According to European agencies, in 2019 the airline was recognized as the safest carrier registered in Russia. She was awarded the most high rating at 0.24 points, based on the calculation - the closer to one, the more dangerous the flights by this carrier.

The rating is compiled based on checking the general condition of the aircraft, punctuality and compliance with standards according to documents and international law. As for plane crashes, since 1993, the residents of the Urals have not had a single incident with human casualties.

"S7"

In second place in terms of safety is the largest air carrier beyond the Urals " S7", formerly known as the Siberia company. The Siberians have an older fleet of aircraft; most often the company operates 15-20 year old Airbuses and Boeings on regular flights. However, the technical condition of the aircraft has never caused any complaints from international commissions.

Major air disasters this company occurred in the early 2000s, when a total of more than 300 people died. Since then, the safety level of S7 transportation has met all international standards, and no precedents, except for two emergency landings, have been recorded.

About the largest and oldest airline Russia - "" - has the most controversy today. On the one hand, they have the most impressive budget and allow them to regularly update their aircraft fleet. But on the other hand, a series of disasters in the 90s seriously damaged the reputation of the once transportation giant. Therefore, now - only third place and 0.38 points.

But the main thing that is worth saying about Aeroflot is that the company is the only Russian carrier that is consistently included in international ratings. True, the same JACDEC agency in 2019 placed Aeroflot only in 36th place in the list of the most safe airlines peace.

The company "" registered in Khanty-Mansiysk today is one of the most popular carriers in the country, with dozens of domestic and international destinations.

Interestingly, the company’s fleet is based on new medium-capacity aircraft of the ATR brand, which makes the carrier a kind of leader in short regional flights.

UTair has had plane crashes, but the last major incident happened in 2014 with an MI-8 cargo helicopter. Passenger aircraft fly without incident.

Safest airlines in the world

The rating of the safest air carriers in the world in 2019 was deservedly topped by the company registered in Hong Kong. It has been on the market since 1946, and over the past three decades the only accident associated with its aircraft was a hard landing. passenger airliner, flying from Indonesia.

Today, Cathay Pacific Airways serves dozens of countries, including all Southeast Asia, Europe, USA and Russia. Recently, the company even launched a Russian-language website with the ability to book tickets.

Despite the incidents of 2017, carriers United Arab Emirates continue to rank second in the ranking of the safest airlines in the world. And the company "" is considered the best of the best. They annually renew their fleet of ships, and also regularly improve the quality of service for passengers - from economy class to first class.

For Russian tourists The Emirates company is important at least because it cooperates with S7 by organizing connecting flights to Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Maldives. In addition, in 10 Russian cities there is the possibility of direct charter flights by planes of this company.

"EVAAir"

Third place in the ranking of the safest airlines is occupied by another Chinese carrier - “ EVAAir" It began work in 1989, and over the years of its existence has not allowed a single plane crash with human casualties. The only precedents were associated with a hard landing in the United States.

Unfortunately, Russian travelers can use the services of this airline only at Asian airports.

"QatarAirways"

And fourth place, according to the airline safety ratings of 2019, was firmly occupied by Middle Eastern aircraft from the company "". The carrier is based in Doha and serves 160 destinations around the world. Since 1993, the company has only had two incidents, but both resulted in no casualties.

The carrier has a huge fleet of Boeings and Airbuses. What is attractive for Russian tourists is that Qatari planes regularly fly through Moscow, St. Petersburg and Voronezh.

Are low-cost airlines as dangerous as they say?

Recently, due to increasing reports of low-cost airline crashes, many tourists have begun to abandon low-cost carriers, sincerely believing that companies intend to skimp on safety for the sake of the number of tickets sold. But how true is this?

Tourists with extensive experience flying on low-cost airlines claim that rumors and speculation are nothing more than exaggerations. Yes, there are problems with low-cost airlines, but the key cause of disasters, as elsewhere, is the human factor. References to supposedly old planes of our Pobeda and other cheap companies are falsifications. Discussants who have doubts are referred to the official websites of the carrier.

If we take the issue seriously, the main problem of low-cost airlines is the lack of proper comfort during the flight, but not the safety of passengers. If you are choosing a cheap flight, you need to know what you are saving on. If you are afraid, you have a direct route to the ticket offices of major airlines.

Despite the fact that experts say that the sanctions imposed on Russia have practically not affected the sphere civil aviation countries, the news increasingly shows the opposite, and experts believe that, at its core, the actual numbers and scale of this are simply not made public.

It is worth clarifying that in reality, it was not specifically the sanctions that led to big problems, since financial difficulties had been observed before, but they strengthened them sufficiently, thereby minimizing the opportunities for domestic air carriers for further development.

As is well known, the first news of financial difficulties came from the air carrier UTair, which, despite a debt of almost 160 billion rubles, is still trying to get out of its difficult situation. Subsequently, problems also appeared with other air carriers, including both the largest (Transaero airlines) and secondary ones operating primarily on local and regional air routes.

It would seem that today the situation around this has already calmed down, which is why it was assumed that air carriers had restructured their activities and thereby circumvented the sanctions, however, just last week, quite unpleasant news came, demonstrating that, at their core, material problems Russian airlines just started to emerge.

At the end of last week, the website portal published information that the domestic air carrier “ Ural Airlines"asks the government for state guarantees in the amount of 870 million rubles. The amount is by no means small, and therefore, the first assumptions of experts indicate that, at its core, Ural Airlines has serious financial problems, the solution of which requires money and time, while experts have not ruled out that the air operator may become next in the chain of retirement of air carriers and their areas of activity. Of course, all this data is unofficial, however, as such, it may still exist.

Among other things, just the day before, information appeared that a lawsuit was filed against the Yakutia air carrier to declare this company actually bankrupt. Previously, there was evidence that the Yakutia air carrier had some debts to creditors, however, given the latest news, it is worth assuming that the actual debt is greater than experts imagine. Naturally, the state is very concerned about the problem of the disappearance of the largest Russian airline operators, and therefore, assistance will most likely be provided to these airlines.

Experts suggest that until the financial problems end, major air carriers should join forces, otherwise, the civil aviation sector may simply be left without airlines, which will naturally lead to global problems, which cannot be allowed.

The airline announced a reduction in the charter flight program until June 15. What should tourists who booked tickets for these dates do?

VIM-Avia is reducing charters until June 15. The airline made this decision to minimize extensive flight delays due to the late arrival of three aircraft from scheduled repairs, the carrier said in a statement.

The problem with flights at VIM-Avia began at the end of May, and difficulties arose with both charter and regular flights: some were canceled, others were delayed for several hours. On June 1, the plane, which was supposed to fly from Ufa to Sochi, was delayed for 15 hours. Flights were also postponed in Magadan. The regional authorities promised to sever relations with the airline if the situation repeats.

On Thursday, the management of VIM-Avia was summoned to the Federal Air Transport Agency. After the conversation, the department said that the carrier would need a few more days to fully comply with the schedule. The head of the analytical service of the Aviaport agency, Oleg Panteleev, discusses the possible consequences for the airline:

Oleg Panteleev Head of Analytical Service of the Aviaport Agency“Taking into account the rather intense flight schedule that was formed by the carrier, the untimely arrival after maintenance of three wide-body aircraft could not but have a rather dramatic impact on the integrity of the flight program. There is no need to say that a two-week break will lead the airline to collapse; at least the volume of lost revenue does not look like an irreparable loss against the background of the company’s annual revenue. On the other hand, if such precedents are repeated, then possible risks for the carrier will increase both on the part of customers of tourist charter programs and on the part of aviation authorities, who, to put it mildly, are not happy with the situation if any of the carriers allows long flight delays. We see that in previous years the Federal Air Transport Agency reacted quite harshly to such precedents, if people were stuck at airports for a day and such disruptions continued for a long time.”

The cause of problems with flights was not only planes that were late for repairs. At the end of May, it was reported that VIM-Avia did not have enough crews: many pilots had run out of sanitary standards by May 20, and they could not fly until the next month.

However, last year the airline also experienced problems, and the Federal Air Transport Agency even warned it about the possibility of limiting its operator’s certificate due to massive flight delays. The head of the travel company Gaudi Tour, Evgeny Potapov, says that he does not cooperate with this carrier:

Evgeniy Potapov head of the travel company "Gaudi Tour"“Last year, one of the tour operators had blocks on VIM-Avia, and almost every flight was either delayed or cancelled. There was a scandal, the whole summer was a mess. Therefore, this season, although they promised that new planes would arrive, the fleet was replenished, but, as you can see, it’s the same thing. I got a little confused regular flight. The tourist had a flight to Sochi, and they called a day before and said that it was cancelled. They compensated the full cost, but nevertheless there was such a precedent.”

The Ministry of Transport will increase the levels of compensation to passengers for flight delays in order to increase the responsibility of airlines in such situations, the head of the ministry, Maxim Sokolov, told RIA Novosti.

On VIM-Avia flights this summer, charters were organized by such large tour operators as Anex Tour, "NTK Intourist", Coral Travel, Mouzenidis Travel, TUI and others, press secretary of the Russian Union of Travel Industry Irina Tyurina told Interfax. Now the carrier’s problem will fall on their shoulders, the manager’s adviser told Business FM Federal agency for tourism Dmitry Gorin:

Vice-President of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, Advisor to the Head of the Federal Tourism Agency“Now the operators have taken on the main burden of resolving the situation. Alas, there are no available planes, and, of course, it will be extremely difficult within two weeks to find a replacement for these flights that VIM-Avia is canceling. Now Rosaviation is assisting travel companies in finding possible alternatives, but taking into account the beginning of high tourist season this year the demand for tourist trips grew by 20-30%, alas, this is not so easy to do. Now, there will probably be certain changes in flight departure times and airline names, so we recommend that tourists who previously had tickets for VIM-Avia keep track of the latest information via travel companies. Tourists who are currently at the resorts will be transported by the airline. At least this is the official position of VIM-Avia. And tourists who have not yet departed will now be rebooked on flights of other airlines or will receive a refund if transportation is impossible.”

As the head of the Ministry of Transport said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, the department is monitoring the situation with delays of VIM-Avia flights and the revocation of the airline’s operator certificate for this moment not planned.

There is a real collapse at several airports. People are unable to fly to their destination for days due to numerous flight delays. Moreover, representatives of VIM-avia do practically nothing to help passengers.

They have been living at the Anadyr airport for almost three days. Due to the cancellation or delay of VIM-Avia flights, almost 500 passengers found themselves hostage to the situation. The first plane to Moscow is scheduled only for Sunday, but was supposed to take off on Tuesday. Moreover, according to passengers, food was offered only today.

“Accommodation is at your own expense, food is at your own expense. The airline representative throws up his hands and says what can I do, because I can’t get through to Moscow,” says the man.

It’s really impossible to get through to the airline, and we couldn’t do it either - the number was busy all the time. The difficult situation is not only in Anadyr: on the Magadan - Moscow route there was one or two days of delay, in Yekaterinburg two flights to Turkey were delayed for more than 12 hours, in Ufa - a flight to Sochi.

“26 hours at the airport waiting for the sea. The departure was scheduled for May 31 at 3:50. As a result, today is June 1, 5 am, and we have no information when we will fly. There is no water, no food, we are sitting in a septic tank. Representatives do not make contact,” passengers write on social networks.

170 people hung at the airport. The flight remained unchanged on the board. During check-in, the girls never opened the gate. The so-called company representative said that they knew about the cancellation of the flight in the morning. When asked why they didn’t write on the board and notify passengers, he said that this was not within his competence.

The carrier wrote about the reasons for the collapse on social networks. Numerous disruptions to the schedule were explained by protracted aircraft repairs.

The airline's flight delays are caused by the late return from scheduled maintenance of three wide-body aircraft, whose arrival at VIM-Avia was expected more than ten days ago.

To get on schedule, VIM-avia canceled all its charter flights until mid-June. According to representatives of the Federal Air Transport Agency, top managers of the carrier were called to the agency to clarify the situation with systematic delays. According to them, all hidden defects identified during aircraft maintenance have already been eliminated.

“The company will need a few more days to get fully on schedule. To date, the airline has adjusted the charter schedule, almost completely transferring charter passengers to other airlines, and is eliminating delays on the regular schedule,” said an official representative of the Federal Agency air transport(Rosaviation) Sergei Izvolsky.

“Of course, for VIM-avia this will not happen just like that, as far as I know, there has already been a warning from the Federal Air Transport Agency that if these delays do not stop, the question will be raised about revoking the license of this airline, that is, this is the liquidation of the airline,” - noted the chairman of the civil aviation commission of the public council of Rostransnadzor, Oleg Smirnov.

The Transport Prosecutor's Office has begun an investigation into VIM-Avia. This is not the first time something like this has happened to this carrier - a year ago the company was already fined for violating the rights of passengers. At the Simferopol airport, people whose flights were delayed for almost a day, not only were not accommodated in hotels at the expense of the carrier, as required by law, they were not even provided with the most necessary things - food and water.