Singapore— Move over, Singapore Girl? Qatar Airways (QTR) has taken over the number one spot as the best airline for 2019, according to Skytrax. It’s not the first time the Middle Eastern carrier has done so either, having ranked number one four times in the last decade—in 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2017.
In fact, QTR is the only carrier to have won the award five times in 10 years. It ranked number two last year when SIA took the top spot.
For 2019, QTR is also Skytrax’s winner in the World’s Best Business Class, Best Business Class seat and Best Airline in the Middle East categories.
Not that Singapore Airlines did too badly, however. It’s still number two on the list, and won the award in the Best First Class seat, category and best airline in Asia, and ranked number four on the list of the world’s cleanest airlines.
And, maybe the Singapore Girl doesn’t need to move over after all, since SIA also received the top award for best cabin crew.
The awards were given out at the 2019 World Airline Awards in Paris on June 18, Tuesday.
It was a particularly good night for Asian airlines, which took more than half of the top 10 spots on the world’s best list. Philippine Air Lines also scored a big win as World’s Most Improved Airline, and Bangkok Airways received the World’s Best Regional Airline accolade. Japan’s All-Nippon Airways received the World’s Best Airport Services award.
Akbar Al Baker, QTR’s group chief executive said upon receiving the top award from Skytrax, “We are thrilled to be globally recognised by our customers by winning these four prestigious awards. Becoming the first airline to be named as ‘Airline of the Year’ for the fifth time is a landmark achievement and, combined with three other major Skytrax awards, it is testament to the tireless efforts of the entire Qatar Airways team. It is a proud moment for the airline as our constant innovation and service standards set the benchmark in our industry.”
Rounding out this year’s top 10 carriers are Japan’s All Nippon Airways (3rd), Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific (4th) and UAE’s Emirates (5th), followed by Eva Air, Hainan Airlines, Qantas Airways, Lufthansa, and Thai Airways, respectively.
On the other side of the spectrum, this year’s five worst-ranked airlines are S7 Airlines, Royal Jordanian Airlines, Flynas, Air China, and Icelandair.
Skytrax has been tracking and ranking the performances of the world’s carriers for the past 19 years. The reviews of 20 million people from 100 different countries were taken into account by Skytrax from September 2018 through May 2019 to get this year’s results. The awards given by Skytrax are very prestigious indeed, often considered by the media and public around the globe as the “Oscars of the aviation industry”.
According to Skytrax’s Edward Plaisted, “To be named as the World’s Best Airline is a great recognition of Qatar Airways high standards, and recognises the hard work and dedication from every member of staff to satisfy customers. To achieve this accolade for a fifth time is a remarkable achievement, and we congratulate them for this unique success.
All of today’s award-winning airlines are voted for by customers, and the focus of our annual survey is for travelers to make their own, personal choices as to which airlines they consider to be best.
We operate the survey and awards in a 100% independent and impartial format according to the commitment we gave back in 1999, and whilst every winner may not be the favourite of everyone, those that disagree should understand that these are the Passenger’s Choice Awards.”/ TISG