EVA Again Ranks Among Aero International’s “Best of Best” for Safety
European aviation magazine recognizes airline as one of top-10 worldwide

TAIPEI, TAIWAN, (14 March, 2007) – Aero International, a monthly aviation-industry magazine published in Germany, has again recognized EVA Air among the world’s “best of the best” airlines for having had no deaths or total aircraft losses in its 16 years of service.  Worldwide, four airlines have met this high safety standard for 34 years while eight, including EVA, follow in descending order based on the number of years that they have been flying.

The report describes EVA as “flying accident-free since its start of operations,” ranking it statistically as one of the “safest airlines in the world” in 9th place among the 50 largest carriers. Aero International also cited EVA among the top-10 safest carriers last year.  Emphasizing the culture of safety, the magazine ranks airlines using data provided by the Hamburg-based Jet Airliner Crashes Evaluation Centre (JACDEC), an organization that has tracked airline accidents since 1973.  After examining records for the world’s biggest airlines, the magazine determined that there has been very little change since last year and concluded that most of those accidents that did occur in 2006 were due to human error.  The magazine published its results in a special report, “Aviation Safety Net.”

Carriers with top-rated safety records for the full tracking period are Qantas, Finnair, Cathay Pacific and All Nippon Airways.  Younger airlines in ranking order with the years they began flying are Air Berlin (1979), Virgin Atlantic (1984), Emirates (1985), Ryanair (1985), EVA (1991), Qatar Airways (1994), Easyjet (1995) and Jet Blue (2000).    EVA management has emphasized safety and service in all operations from the day the airline was formed, starting with a “total safety policy” for every aspect of aircraft maintenance and passenger care.  EVA Air was the first airline in Taiwan to be certified through the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Operational Safety Audit, and is an IOSA-Certified Operator with a commendation concluding,  “Zero Findings, Zero Recommendations.”  EVA has also received Awards of Excellence from the Boeing Company for outstanding fleet maintenance and reliability.  In addition, EVA has been recognized by the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) of Taiwan and received Golden Wing Awards for surpassing other Taiwan-based carriers in Flight Safety Management, Passenger Services, Information Provided, Chartered Flight Services during Peak Seasons, Support of Airport Training Drills, and more in 2003, 2004 and 2005.  The CAA gave EVA a “first grade rating” and Best Flight Operations Award in 2000.  And the CAA singled out EVA for Zero Defaults in Flight Safety in 1995, noting that EVA Air was the only airline with a “zero default” rating. EVA was the first airline in Taiwan to achieve ISO 9002 Certification in three separate areas of operation at the same time:  Passenger, Cargo and Maintenance Services.  The airline maintains this quality status with the Bureau Verities Quality International.  It also earned U.S. Federal Aviation Administration certification for the state-of-the-art, Taiwan-based maintenance program it operates in partnership with General Electric.