​The Airlines to Fly with in 2018 (and those to avoid).

If your thoughts are already turning to next year’s summer holidays, you might want to look at the latest research from Airlineratings.com.  For the 5th successive year, Air New Zealand has won the leading airline review website’s coveted annual World’s Best Airline Award.

Airlineratings.com based its findings on 13 criteria, from safety and comfort to fleet age and environmental credentials.  The judging team paid particularly close attention to innovations which improve the Economy Class experience, the standard of premium economy seats on long-haul flights, and whether the Business Class cabin offers flat beds.

Describing it as an “industry trendsetter”, the judges awarded the prize to Air New Zealand “for its continued record-breaking financial performance, in-flight innovations, environmental leadership, young fleet and motivation of its staff.”

However, the judges noted that the Auckland-based airline is facing increasingly tough competition from Qantas (which won this year’s special awards for ‘Best Catering’ and ‘Best Lounges’) and from Singapore Airlines, which took the honours for ‘Best First Class’ and ‘Best Cabin Crew’.

​One noticeable feature of the Airlineratings.com Top 10 list is the almost complete absence of European airlines.  Only Virgin Atlantic made the cut, finishing 5th and earning praise for its in-flight product and service.  Norwegian was named the Best European Low Cost Airline.

Interestingly, the Airlineratings.com list makes no mention of Qatar Airways, despite the Gulf carrier having pipped Singapore Airlines to the Skytrax World’s Best Airline Award earlier this year.

Whilst the 2018 trophy went to Air New Zealand, the wooden spoon went to Batik Air.  Founded in 2013, the Jakarta-based airline has already experienced two accidents, with one 737 overshooting the runway in 2015 and a second colliding with another aircraft on take-off last year.  As a result, Batik Air received only 1 star out of 7 for its safety standards.

Founded 30 years ago, MSB’s roots lie in the aviation industry and we are delighted still to be working with international carriers in the US and Asia on projects to improve leadership and customer service.  For more information, visit our website - www.msbconsultancy.com.

The 2018 world's best airlines according to Airlineratings.com.
1.Air New Zealand
2.Qantas
3.Singapore Airlines
4.Virgin Australia
5.Virgin Atlantic
6.Etihad Airways
7.All Nippon Airways
8.Korean Air
9.Cathay Pacific
10.Japan Airlines