Here are the 10 safest low-cost airlines in the world

Flickr/Tomás Del Coro

A Virgin America Airbus A319.

• AirlineRatings.com has released its annual list of the safest airlines in the world.
• The publication's editors selected the 10 safest low-cost carriers from a pool of 409 airlines.
• AirlineRatings did not name a "safest" low-cost airline. Just a list of the top 10.

Demand for affordable air travel is surging. Which is why new low-cost carriers have been sprouting up around the world.

As part of its annual study of the safest airlines in the world, AirlineRatings.com compiled a list of the 10 safest low-cost carriers in the world.

The publication's safety rating system was developed with the help of the United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organization.

The safest airlines in the world are selected from a pool of 409 carriers. To compile its list, the website's team of editors evaluated each airline based on its standing with international regulators, its fatality record over the past 10 years, the age of its fleet of planes, its result from an International Air Transport Association (IATA) safety audit, and whether its country of origin conforms with the International Civil Aviation Organization's eight-point safety parameter. All of the airlines on this list passed those tests with flying colors.

The editors at AirlineRatings.com declined to select a single winner. Instead, they simply listed the 10 airlines in alphabetical order.

Here's a closer look at the 10 safest low-cost carriers in the world.