AirlineRatings.com names top airlines

The best 20 airlines in the world have been ranked and named by AirlineRatings.com, a safety and product rating website. Air New Zealand took top honours, beating out Singapore Airlines, last year’s winner, ANA, Qantas and Cathay Pacific. “Air New Zealand is being honoured for the sixth time for its record-breaking performance, multi-award-winning in-flight innovations, operational safety, environmental leadership and motivation of its staff. These factors have stamped the airline as a clear industry leader,” AirlineRatings.com said in announcing their latest winners.

To be named in the top 20 airlines must achieve a seven-star safety rating and demonstrate leadership in innovation for passenger comfort. The editors of AirlineRatings.com look for a consistent level of service, innovation and staff engagement from each major contender. According to Airlineratings.com editor-in-chief Geoffrey Thomas, “we are looking for leadership and airlines that innovate to make a real difference to the passenger experience particularly in Economy Class. In our evaluation, we also consider the audited feedback from passengers on our website.”

Air New Zealand’s acting CEO, Jeff McDowall, says the airline is honoured to take out AirlineRatings.com’s top award for a record sixth time. “Our 12,500 employees both on the ground and in the air are committed to offering the best travel experience on the 17 million customer journeys we facilitate every year, so it’s fantastic to have these efforts recognised by such an esteemed global judging panel. We’d also like to thank our customers for their ongoing loyalty to Air New Zealand. While we are extremely proud to receive this award, 2020 marks Air New Zealand’s 80^th year and we are focused on delivering some great new initiatives, as well as launching our non-stop Auckland-New York service in late October.”

The list developed by the website ranked the top airlines as:

1. Air New Zealand
2. Singapore Airlines
3. All Nippon Airways
4. Qantas
5. Cathay Pacific
6. Emirates
7. Virgin Atlantic
8. EVA Air
9. Qatar Airways
10. Virgin Australia
11. Lufthansa
12. Finnair
13. Japan Airlines
14. KLM
15. Korean Airlines
16. Hawaiian Airlines
17. British Airways
18. Alaska Airlines
19. Delta Air Lines
20. Etihad Airways