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Qatar continued cruising high in the Skytrax passenger survey. Photo / Fasyah Halim, Unsplash
The best airlines in the world have been revealed as voted for by passengers.
Despite a year of teething pains, labour shortages and the piling up of pandemic problems at airports around the world, the Skytrax aviation awards says some airlines have been having a great year.
The results of the annual survey of travellers have been celebrated at the Skytrax annual awards held in London this weekend. 14 million passengers weighed in to praise what they see as the top carriers in the world.
At the top Qatar Airways was voted number one airline, maintaining its top position for a seventh year in a row. The Qatari carrier was praised for its fleet of 200, modern aircraft and the comforts they afford on their network of 150 destinations worldwide. The airline took this as a vote of confidence ahead of a very busy November, ferrying passengers into Doha for the FIFA Football World Cup.
Singapore also maintained its place as 2nd ranking airline Emirates leapfrogged Japan’s ANA into 3rd. However this familiar lead disguised some turbulence in the top 100 rankings.
Qantas rose three places into the top five, praised as “one of the world’s leading long distance airlines and one of the strongest brands in Australia.”
The Aussie flag carrier also took home several plaudits including “Best Airline” in Australia/Pacific, “Best Premium” economy class catering and “Best Business class” and “Best economy class” in Australia and Pacific.
Turkish Airlines and Korean Air rose 10 and 13 places each, with the Turkey-based airline sweeping the awards with four category wins including Best Airline in Europe.
In the Pacific passengers voted unfavourably for many carriers, seeing dramatic falls.
Air New Zealand was absent from the top flight, falling ten places to 30th in the rankings as it tries to rebuild its network as an international airline.
Similarly the Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific fell 10 places after a year spent largely grounded and with lingering Covid quarantine measures slowing air traffic through the SAR.
Fiji Airways was in the ascendant, closing the gap on Air New Zealand from 54 last year to 36. The airline won the coveted best airline staff in the Australia/Pacific region, which was a great boost to Fiji Airways’ chief executive Andre Viljoen.
“We won this same award in 2019, and I am proud of the fact that we have not been complacent despite the challenging period that Fiji Airways and indeed the entire aviation industry has faced due to the pandemic,” he said.
Qatar’s chief executive Akbar Al Baker offered his “sincere thanks to all our passengers who voted for us,” saying the seventh top billing was a testament to the airline’s hard work in the past 25 years.
Yeoh Phee Teik, Singapore International Airlines’ senior VP for customer experience was not bitter about failing to topple Qatar for a second year, saying they were proud of their performance and would “never take it for granted”.
“These awards from Skytrax are a recognition of our long-standing commitment to innovation, as well as our continuous investment in our products, services, and our people,” he said.
In its 23rd year the Skytrax World Airline Awards have been asking passengers to vote for their favourite airlines and survey opinions on comfort, cleanliness and crew attitude for the past two decades.
Reflecting the behaviours of passengers Skytrax also listed its five top long haul low-cost carriers, with Singapore’s Scoot Airlines topping the table, followed by Jetstar in second and Air Canada Rouge in third.
The World Airline Awards are wholly independent and impartial, introduced in 1999 to provide a customer satisfaction study that was truly global. Travellers across the world vote in the largest airline passenger satisfaction survey to determine the award winners.
Skytrax CEO Edward Plaisted praised Qatar for being one of the most consistent performers in the awards, for the best part of a decade.
“For Qatar Airways to achieve this top accolade for a seventh time is both a unique and remarkable achievement, and we congratulate them for this success,” he said.
1 Qatar Airways
2 Singapore Airlines
3 Emirates +1
4 ANA -1
5 Qantas Airways +3
6 Japan Airlines -1
7 Turkish Airlines +10
8 Air France +2
9 Korean Air +13
10 Swiss International +8
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