Qatar continues to climb high in the Skytrax passenger survey. Photo / Fasyah Halim, Unsplash
The best airlines in the world were voted for by passengers.
Despite a year of teething problems, labor shortages and mounting pandemic problems at airports around the world, the Skytrax Aviation Awards say some airlines have had a great year.
The results of the annual traveler survey were celebrated this weekend at the Skytrax Annual Awards in London. 14 million passengers joined in to praise what they considered to be the best airlines in the world.
At the top Qatar Airways was voted the number one airline and maintained its top position for the seventh consecutive year. The Qatari airline was praised for its fleet of 200 modern aircraft and the convenience it offers across its network of 150 destinations worldwide. The airline took this as a vote of confidence ahead of a very busy November when it carried passengers to Doha for the FIFA World Cup.
Singapore also maintained its place as the second-ranked airline, Emirates overtaking Japan’s ANA for third. That well-known lead, however, masked some turbulence in the top 100 rankings.
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Qantas rose three spots in the top five and was hailed as “one of the world’s leading long-haul airlines and one of the strongest brands in Australia”.
The Australian airline also took home multiple awards including Best Airline in Australia Pacific, Best Premium Economy Class Catering and Best Business Class and Best Economy Class in Australia Pacific.
Turkish Airlines and Korean Air climbed 10 and 13 spots, respectively, with the Turkey-based airline lifting the awards with four category wins including Best Airline in Europe.
In the Pacific Rim, passengers voted negatively for many airlines as they experienced dramatic declines.
Air New Zealand was missing from the top flight, falling ten places to 30th in the rankings as it seeks to rebuild its network as an international airline.
Similarly, Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific fell 10 places after a largely grounded year with ongoing Covid quarantine measures slowing air travel through the SAR.
Fiji Airways was on the rise, closing the gap with Air New Zealand to 36 from 54 last year. The airline won the coveted Best Airline Personnel in the Australia/Pacific region, giving Fiji Airways Chief Executive Andre Viljoen a big win gave boost.
“We won the same award in 2019 and I am proud that we have not been complacent despite the challenging time Fiji Airways and indeed the entire aviation industry has been facing due to the pandemic,” he said.
Qatar Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker expressed his “sincere thanks to all our passengers who voted for us” and said the seventh top billing was a testament to the airline’s hard work over the past 25 years.
Yeoh Phee Teik, senior vice president of customer experience at Singapore International Airlines, wasn’t bitter at not being able to topple Qatar for a second year, saying they were proud of their achievement and would “never take it for granted”.
“These awards from Skytrax are a recognition of our long-standing commitment to innovation and our continued investment in our products, services and people,” he said.
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In its 23rd year, the Skytrax World Airline Awards asked passengers to vote for their favorite airlines and poll opinions on comfort, cleanliness and crew attitudes over the past two decades.
To reflect passenger behavior, Skytrax also listed its top five long-haul low-cost airlines, with Singapore-based Scoot Airlines topping the chart, followed by Jetstar in second and Air Canada Rouge in third.
The World Airline Awards are fully independent and impartial and were established in 1999 to provide a truly global customer satisfaction survey. Travelers around the world vote to determine the award winners in the largest passenger satisfaction survey.
Skytrax CEO Edward Plaisted commended Qatar for being one of the most consistent participants in the awards for the better part of a decade.
“For Qatar Airways to receive this top honor for the seventh time is both a unique and remarkable achievement and we congratulate them on this achievement,” he said.
Skytrax 2022 The ten best airlines in the world
1 Qatar Airways
2 Singapore Airlines
3 Emirates +1
4ANA-1
5 Qantas Airways +3
6Japan Airlines-1
7 Turkish Airlines +10
8 Air France +2
9 Korean Air +13
10 Swiss International +8
