World's best airline for 2019 named at annual Skytrax awards

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This was published 4 years ago

World's best airline for 2019 named at annual Skytrax awards

By Craig Platt
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Qatar Airways has been named the world's best airline for 2019 at the annual World Airline Awards, announced at the Paris Air Show on Tuesday.

It's the fifth time the Middle East carrier has taken out the top gong at the awards run by research firm Skytrax, the first airline to win the world's best award five times since the rankings began in 1999.

As usual, the top 10 was dominated by Asian and Middle Eastern airlines.

Qatar Airways is the first to win world's best airline five times at the annual World Airline Awards.

Qatar Airways is the first to win world's best airline five times at the annual World Airline Awards.Credit: SHUTTERSTOCK

Last year's winner, Singapore Airlines, dropped to second place, with Japan's All Nippon Airways remaining in third. Cathay Pacific climbed from sixth position to fourth, while Emirates dropped one spot to fifth.

Qantas continued to climb in the rankings, hitting eighth spot after climbing from 13th to 11th last year. However, Virgin Australia continued to drop on the list, falling to 25th position from 22nd last year. In 2017 the airline was ranked 13th.

Qantas dominated the regional awards, taking out best airline, first and business class for the Australia/Pacific, while Air New Zealand won best premium economy and best cabin cleanliness. Jetstar won best low-cost airline in the region.

It was a big year for Qatar Airways with the airline also winning for World's Best Business Class, Best Business Class Seat and best Middle Eastern Airline.

The airline unveiled its revolutionary new business class seats, the "QSuite" in 2017. The seats featured the world's first double-bed in business class, as well a face-to-face "party of four" configuration. Take a look at the seats in the gallery above. Qatar Airways introduced the class on Australian routes in June last year.

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Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker described the results as a "proud moment".

"Becoming the first airline to be named as 'Airline of the Year' for the fifth time is a landmark achievement," he said.

Edward Plaisted of Skytrax said: "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."

In other key awards, Singapore Airlines took out the award for best cabin crew and best first class, Japan Airlines won best economy class, Emirates best inflight entertainment and AirAsia was named best low-cost carrier,

The World Airlines Awards are based on customer surveys conducted by Skytrax. According to Skytrax, more than 20 million survey entries were recorded between September 2018 and May 2019 for this year's awards, with voters coming from more than 100 different countries.

The World's Top 10 Airlines of 2019 (click on the links to read Traveller's airline reviews)

  1. Qatar Airways (Review: Economy class)
  2. Singapore Airlines (Review: Economy class)
  3. ANA All Nippon Airways
  4. Cathay Pacific (Review: Economy class)
  5. Emirates (Review: Economy class)
  6. EVA Air
  7. Hainan Airlines
  8. Qantas Airways (Review: Economy class non-stop to London)
  9. Lufthansa
  10. Thai Airways (Review: Economy class)

World's Best Cabin Staff 2019

  1. Singapore Airlines
  2. Garuda Indonesia
  3. ANA All Nippon Airways
  4. Thai Airways
  5. EVA Air
  6. Cathay Pacific
  7. Hainan Airlines
  8. Japan Airlines
  9. Qatar Airways
  10. China Airlines

Best economy class

  1. Japan Airlines
  2. Singapore Airlines
  3. Qatar Airways
  4. Thai Airways
  5. ANA All Nippon Airways
  6. Emirates
  7. Cathay Pacific Airways
  8. Hainan Airlines
  9. Lufthansa
  10. EVA Air

Best business class

  1. Qatar Airways (Review: Business class Qsuite)
  2. ANA All Nippon Airways (Review: Dreamliner business class)
  3. Singapore Airlines (Review: A380 business class)
  4. Emirates (Review: A380 business class)
  5. Qantas Airways (Review: A330 business class)
  6. Hainan Airlines
  7. Thai Airways
  8. Etihad Airways
  9. Cathay Pacific Airways (Review: 777 business class)
  10. Garuda Indonesia

Best premium economy

  1. Virgin Atlantic
  2. Singapore Airlines (Review: A350 premium economy)
  3. Air New Zealand (Review: Dreamliner premium economy)
  4. Austrian Airlines
  5. Air Canada (Review: Dreamliner premium economy)
  6. Qantas Airways (Review: A380 premium economy)
  7. Lufthansa
  8. Virgin Australia (Review: 777 premium economy)
  9. Aeroflot
  10. Air France

World's Best Low-Cost Airlines 2019

  1. AirAsia
  2. easyJet
  3. Norwegian
  4. Southwest Airlines
  5. AirAsiaX
  6. Jetstar Airways
  7. WestJet
  8. Indigo
  9. Ryanair
  10. Eurowings

The World's Cleanest Airlines

  1. EVA Air
  2. Japan Airlines
  3. ANA All Nippon Airways
  4. Singapore Airlines
  5. Asiana Airlines
  6. Hainan Airlines/
  7. Swiss Int'l Air Lines
  8. Cathay Pacific
  9. Qatar Airways
  10. Lufthansa

Best inflight entertainment

  1. Emirates
  2. Qatar Airways
  3. Singapore Airlines
  4. Virgin Atlantic
  5. Delta Air Lines
  6. Qantas Airways
  7. United Airlines
  8. Lufthansa
  9. Turkish Airlines
  10. American Airlines

See also: World's safest, and least safe, airlines named in 2019 rankings

A to Z: Read all of Traveller's Flight Test airline reviews

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