Qantas plummets in rankings as world’s best airline named
By Craig Platt
Qantas has dropped dramatically from the top five in an annual ranking of the world’s best airlines, falling all the way to 17th.
The World Airline Awards, announced at the Paris Air Show on Tuesday, named Singapore Airlines as the world’s best for 2023, taking the top spot from Qatar Airways after the Middle Eastern carrier had kept Singapore to No.2 for the previous three awards.
First class on board a Singapore Airlines Airbus A380.
The last time Singapore Airlines took the top slot was 2018. The airline’s first-class cabin was highlighted as one of the features that put it above its competitors.
Singapore Airlines’ chief executive, Goh Choon Phong, said the carrier had emerged “stronger and fitter” from the pandemic. Last month the airline announced a record profit of $2.42 billion, buoyed by the reopening of China and other countries across Asia.
Asia and the Middle East dominated the awards as usual, with Air France (No.7) the only airline from Western Europe to make the top 10.
Qantas, which made a surprise climb to No.5 from No.7 in last year’s rankings, despite widely reported issues with customer service, baggage handling and delays, dropped out of the top 10 for the first time since 2018. Its fall to 17th represents the airline’s lowest ranking in the history of the awards.
A Qantas spokesperson said the survey started nine months ago “when it was clear our service wasn’t back to our best.”
“A lot has changed since and if you ran this survey today, the results would be very different. We’ve worked hard to improve and the feedback from customers shows we are.”
Outgoing Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said earlier this year that the period of mass cancellations and delays, combined with sky-high fares, was coming to an end and that the airline was “getting back to its best”.
The latest data from the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics showed that, for April, Qantas had the best on-time performance among Australian domestic carriers, with 73.7 per cent of flights arriving on time, and the lowest cancellation rate of 3.6 per cent.
Other Australian airlines were further down the award rankings, with Virgin Australia at No.46 (down three spots), Rex at No.56 (up 16 spots) and Jetstar at No.69 (down 12 spots).
The awards are based on online customer-satisfaction surveys conducted by consultancy firm Skytrax, with passengers from 100 countries taking part and 350 airlines featuring in the final results. Skytrax claims the awards are the world’s largest airline-satisfaction survey.
Some aviation experts have questioned Skytrax’s methodology and lack of transparency over its awards process. According to some reports, Skytrax has refused to answer questions over how its survey system works or even what the business actually does.
Airlines, however, are quick to trumpet the results when favourable.
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce at the launch of the airline’s non-stop Auckland to New York flights last week. Credit: Getty Images
Among the other notable awards this year were Japan Airlines winning best economy class, Qatar Airways winning best business class, Taiwan’s EVA Air winning best premium economy and Indonesia’s Garuda winning best cabin crew.
The world’s best airlines for 2023
- Singapore Airlines
- Qatar Airways
- ANA All Nippon Airways
- Emirates
- Japan Airlines
- Turkish Airlines
- Air France
- Cathay Pacific Airways
- EVA Air
- Korean Air
- Hainan Airlines
- Swiss International Air Lines
- Etihad Airways
- Iberia
- Fiji Airways
- Vistara
- Qantas Airways
- British Airways
- Air New Zealand
- Delta Air Lines
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