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When it comes to air travel, millions of travellers agree: Asian airlines do it best. While Qatar Airways – winner of the “Airline of the Year” title in the annual Skytrax World Airline Awards announced at the Paris Airshow last week – isn’t strictly Asian, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways and Garuda Indonesia also did well, coming in the Top 10 of airlines passengers like to fly.

Based in Doha, Qatar’s Capital, Qatar Airways has an excellent record at the Skytrax awards, sweeping up the top prize twice, in 2011 and 2012, and coming in second place in the years it failed to win.

Skytrax launched its first World Airline Awards in 1999 with the aim of establishing an award programme for the airline industry that was truly global. Votes are compiled from the world’s largest airline passenger satisfaction survey, which operates independent of airline involvement, sponsorship or third-party influence. The award is highly respected by the commercial airline industry.

The 2015 Skytrax World Airline Awards were decided by 18.9 million passengers in 110 countries across the globe. The survey takes in everything from quality of an airline’s ground services to the comfort of their seats to on-time performance. 

“In a relatively short time, Qatar Airways has grown to providing services to more than 140 destinations worldwide, offering levels of service excellence that have helped the award-winning carrier to become best in the world,” notes a statement from Skytrax.

Singapore Airlines came in second best, while last year’s champion, Cathay Pacific, ranked third.

Emirates and Etihad Airways secured fifth and sixth places while Garuda Indonesia also performed very well, coming eighth ahead of Eva Air (9) and Qantas Airways (10).

The champion of low-cost airlines was once again AirAsia, which was voted the best low-cost airline for the seventh year in a row.

Thai Airways International, once a leader in the aviation industry, fell to no 19 in the ranking. 

Thailand’s flag carrier ended up five places behind its position last year in Skytrax’s survey. Just three years ago, it was ninth on the World’s Best Airline list.

In addition to the top prize, Skytrax also rewards the commercial airlines for their performance in other aspects of air travel.

The World’s Best Business Class, for example, went to Singapore Airlines, while Air New Zealand was awarded the World’s Best Premium Economy Class.

Hong Kong-based Dragonair bagged the World’s Best Regional Airline prize, leaving Thailand’s Bangkok Airways the second best of its kind. However, when it came to Asia Best Regional Airline, Bangkok Airways trumped Dragonair to become the best in Asia.

With so many airlines in the sky today, air travel is not merely more accessible to all but also runs a higher risk of being a miserable experience for the passenger. Nothing is worse than being stuck in an uncomfortable seat with limited legroom, rude service from stern-looking flight attendants, terrible food and a lack of in-flight entertainment on a long-haul journey. 

The latest survey reveals that the World’s Best Economy Class belongs to Asiana Airlines – one of South Korea’s two major airlines. The airline won the World’s Best Economy Class award for the second consecutive year. The carrier is highly regarded for its differentiated economy class services, including comfortable seats and various in-flight entertainment options that suit all customers, foreign and Korean alike. 

Thai Airways International managed to cling on to ninth when it came to best experience in “cattle” class.

For passengers whose main concerns involve the movie list, game series, TV programmes, music and onboard Wi-Fi Internet connectivity, Emirates is probably the best choice as the winner of the World's Best In-flight Entertainment this year. Thai Airways again came in ninth best in this category. 

 

Come fly with me

The World’s Top 20 

 1 Qatar Airways

 2 Singapore Airlines

 3 Cathay Pacific Airways

 4 Turkish Airlines

 5 Emirates

 6 Etihad Airways

 7 ANA All Nippon Airways

 8 Garuda Indonesia

 9 EVA Air

10 Qantas Airways

11 Asiana Airlines

12 Lufthansa

13 Austrian

14 Swiss Int'l Air Lines

15 Air France

16 Virgin Australia

17 Air New Zealand

18 Dragonair

19 Thai Airways

20 British Airways