AirlineRatings.com has developed unique COVID-19 health ratings for airlines to give comfort to air travellers, whether about to make a flight or planning their next adventure. Flying in this unsettled world means travelling safely is now of paramount importance and significant new data services from AirlineRatings.com allow passengers to take the worry out of choosing an airline. AirlineRatings.com answers the questions on everyone's lips: which airlines have implemented full COVID-19 protocols and which airlines' are safe and their pilots have been trained correctly? COVID-19 ratings  For a COVID-19 compliance star as part of the overall safety rating, airlines must pass four of seven criteria: website information on COVID19 procedures; face masks for passengers; personal protection equipment for the crew; modified meal service; deep clean of aircraft, personal sanitizer kit and social distancing onboarding. Airlineratings.com also breaks this out with a COVID-19 rating out of seven as under.   The new initiative is being been done exclusively with Skyscanner in the UK. SUBSCRIBE now for COVID-19 and Safety Ratings. Editor-in-Chief Geoffrey Thomas said that “it was concerning to find than many airlines did not appear to comply with the COVID-19 agreed standards for the protection of passengers and crew.” “That is changing and our team is reviewing compliance on a weekly basis,” said Thomas. On the rating page passengers can see exactly what criteria the airlines pass and these are highlighted in green as below. Any non-compliance is shown in red.   Enhanced Safety Ratings  While introducing the COVID-19 rating, AirlineRatings.com also has refined its safety rating system to focus on serious incidents as a guide to an airline’s operational performance and pilot training. In an industry first Airline Ratings has examined over 11,000 serious incident reports since 2015 to arrive at an incident rating for airlines. Incidents and crashes account for five of its seven-star ratings. Incidents such as bird strikes, lightning and weather were eliminated along with issues that were not related to the airline or pilots. This brought the number of serious incidents down to 1,200 over five years and our team meticulously looked at each and reviewed the reports to determine responsibility and rated airlines accordingly. Completion, or compliance of audits – ICAO, IOSA, EU blacklist, and FAA restricted list – makes up an additional star. Commenting Thomas said: “There is a growing concern industry-wide at some pilot performance issues and we have evolved our rating system to put greater focus on outcomes.” “In some recent fatal crashes, the pilots have either shown total disregard for ATC instructions, ignored repeated aircraft warning systems or ignored company procedures – or, in one case, all three.” “The Pakistan fake pilots’ license scandal has also brought into sharp focus that in some parts of the world getting a pilot’s license can be subject to abuse.” There is also a comparison rating tool that allows you to compare airlines from different regions as under;   The refined ratings, with the COVID-19 health rating, are available for a small yearly subscription of US$15. The Back Story That subscription also includes an exclusive weekly editorial from Editor-in-Chief Geoffrey Thomas delivered directly to your email inbox. (Weekly from October 1) Mr Thomas has won 45 international awards for his work and is the author of 11 books on the industry. "What fascinates me is the story behind the story and in aviation, there are just so many. Nothing is what it seems and the back story is really intriguing," Thomas says.