Singapore Airlines has been crowned this year’s Airline of the Year at the World Airline Awards.
“For the 3rd time in 10 years, Singapore Airlines has been named World’s Best Airline, winning the 2008 Airline of the Year title in the latest World Airline Awards,” said Edward Plaisted CEO of Skytrax.
“We extend our congratulations to them for this notable achievement, coinciding with the time that Singapore Airlines was the world’s first airline to fly the Airbus A380.”
Cathay Pacific came second, with Qantas third, Thai Airways fourth and Asiana Airlines fifth.
EasyJet won the Best Low Cost Airline category, ahead of Virgin Blue and Jetstar, who came in second and third. Air Berlin and Southwest Airlines were fourth and fifth respectively.
Germany’s Lufthanasa won the Best Airline award for Europe while Asiana’s cabin crew was voted best in the skies.
The World Airline Awards are based on an annual world airline survey by Skytrax, which measures passenger satisfaction over a 10 month period. This survey was conducted over a 11 month period – from August 2007 to June 2008 – and involved around 15 million air travellers who completed a wide range of survey nominations.
The Survey data is collated from a variety of input sources, including passenger interviews completed online and via e-mail, business research groups, travel panel interviews, corporate travel questionnaires and telephone interviews.
Singapore Airlines was chosen mainly for the high level of service and very low level of problems encountered by passengers.
The airline was also named the world’s Best Business Class, and according to Plaisted, “The business class seat is marketed by Singapore Airlines as ‘the most spacious the world has ever seen’, and whilst maybe not suited to every passenger’s taste, it remains a clear quality benchmark for long haul business class.”
“The business class experience has moved on very quickly in recent years, and we are now seeing three different quality leagues amongst the world airlines when assessing product and service standards,” said Plaisted.
