U.S. Carriers Among World's Top 10 Safest Airlines

The top ten safest airlines in the world are mostly based in the U.S. or Europe, according to a report from the Air Transport Rating Agency.

Six of the 10 safest airlines -- AMR's American Airlines and American Eagle connection, Continental, Delta, Southwest, United and US Airways -- are based in the U.S. The three safest European carriers were Air France-KLM, British Airways and Lufthansa. Japan Airlines is the safest carrier in Asia, the report said.

The Geneva-based agency said it compared publicly available data on 100 on the world's largest airlines and winnowed the list down using 15 different criteria, including fleet age, pilot training facilities, and the number of accidents during the past 10 years.

The European Union each year releases a list of banned airlines considered to be the most dangerous in the world.