An unsettled world means traveling safely is now of paramount importance and significant new services from AirlineRatings.com allow you to take the worry out of choosing an airline. We answer the questions on everyone's lips: which airlines have implemented full COVID-19 protocols and which airlines' pilots have been trained correctly? In two industry firsts, the world's only safety, and product rating website is giving passengers greater peace of mind with a refined safety rating system focused on passenger health during COVID-19 and an insight into crucial flight outcomes on hundreds of carriers. For a COVID-19 compliance star, airlines must pass four of six criteria: website information on COVID-19 procedures; face masks for passengers; personal protection equipment for crew; modified meal service; deep clean of aircraft; and social distancing on boarding. 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 protection of passengers and crew." "That is changing and our team is reviewing compliance on a weekly basis," said Thomas. While introducing the COVID-19 rating, AirlineRatings.com has refined its 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. Completion or compliance of audits – ICAO, IOSA, EU black list and FAA restricted list – make up an additional star. Commenting Thomas said: "There is 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 crashes, pilots have either shown total disregard for ATC instructions, ignored repeated cockpit warnings or ignored company procedures – or, in one case, all three." "The Pakistan fake pilot's 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." About: AirlineRatings.com (https://www.airlineratings.com/) rates the safety and in-flight product of 380 airlines. It is used by millions of passengers and is the industry standard for ratings. For more: Geoffrey Thomas +61-417-936-610 Geoffrey.thomas@AirlineRatings.com Twitter: @Airline_ratings SOURCE: AirlineRatings.com