Last week at the Farnborough Airshow, the winners of the coveted 2016 Skytrax World Airline Awards were revealed, which – among a slew of awards – ranked the world’s top 100 airlines, voted for by airline customers around the world. Last year’s winner, Qatar Airways, dropped one spot top number two, while Emirates, who were at number 5 last year, topped the list. This is the fourth time they’ve topped the list.
The airline also won World’s Best Inflight Entertainment for a record 12th consecutive year, and Best Airline in the Middle East, bringing its total Awards since 2001 to 20. Not to be outdone, Qatar won three other awards: World’s Best Business Class, Best Business Class Airline Lounge and the Best Airline Staff Service in the Middle East.
Elsewhere in the top ten, Singapore and Cathay both dropped a position to 3 and 4 to make room for Emirates return to the top of the list, while ANA moved up two spots to 5. Etihad remained stationary in sixth position and both EVA and Qantas moved up a position to 8 and 9, respectively. Lufthansa moved up two spots to come in at number 10, and Turkish Airways dropped three spots from 4 to 7. Garuda Indonesia, who was at number 8 last year, dropped down to 11.
To file under “most improved” for 2016, Hainan Airlines moved up an impressive 10 spots from 22 to 12, China Airlines from 52 to 37, Delta Airlines from 45 to 35 and Vietnam Airlines moved from 55 to 44. Towards the bottom of the list, Aeromexico should also be mentioned for moving up from 110 to 94 and Royal Jordanian, LOT Polish and Royal Brunei Airlines also enter the top 100 after sitting outside the pack last year.
Qantas, which came in at number 9, took out three other awards: Best Airline Australia in Pacific, Best Airline Staff in Australia / Pacific and Best Premium Economy Onboard Catering.
Among other Australian airlines, Jetstar dropped from 41 to 46 though was awarded Best Low-Cost Airline in Australia / Pacific, while Virgin Australia – which performed the strongest of all Virgin airline brands – dropped two points from 18 to 16. Meanwhile, partner airline Air New Zealand remained at 17 and took in two other awards for World’s Best Premium Economy Class Cabin and World’s Best Premium Economy Class Airline Seat.
Virgin America – who were recently taken over by Alaska Airlines, took out Best Airline in North America and Best Low-Cost Airline in North America, and came in some 35 places higher than its new parent company. And though it suffered a drop on the list from 4th to 7th, Turkish Airlines was the most awarded airline of the night, taking out Best Airline in Europe, Best Airline in Southern Europe, Best Business Class Airline Catering and Best Business Class Lounge Dining.
You can see the full top 100 list at their official website.
This year’s Skytrax awards were based on a total of 19.2 million completed surveys covering 280 airlines, by customers hailing from more than 104 countries. The Skytrax survey measures quality standards across 41 key performance indicators of front-line products and services in the airline industry.
———-
