UK. Asian airlines have dominated the top ten positions in the Skytrax Airline of the Year 2004 survey.
The bird flu outbreaks and the Middle Eastern crisis have forced the Asian airlines to adapt to changing trends and motivate them to market their services aggressively.
Singapore Airlines stole the title from Cathay Pacific Airways, last year’s winner, to be the 2004 Airline of the Year. It also won Best Airline Asia, Best Transpacific, and ranked third for Best First Class and also for Best Economy Class.
The top ten survey rankings were:
1 Singapore Airlines
2 Emirates
3 Cathay Pacific
4 Qantas Airways
5 Thai Airways
6 British Airways
7 Qatar Airways
8 Malaysia Airlines
9 Continental Airlines
10 ANA All Nippon Airways
The survey, carried out by the London aviation consultancy Skytrax, was conducted over a ten-month period (June 2003 to March 2004), logging 10.8 million eligible entries from over 92 nationalities.
Data is gathered from online customer surveys, Skytrax Travel panel, corporate and consumer questionnaire or phone interviews, and selective passenger interviews.
Airlines were given star ratings of one to five based on the products and in particular, on the quality of service provided by the cabin staff. The survey acknowledges the different levels of service offered by both low-cost and major airlines. Stars are awarded based not on the type of airline but by the best level of service it can provide for that category.
Skytrax managing director Peter Miller commented: “As it transpired, recovery [from SARS and terrorism threats] was swift and the launch of our survey website enabled us to expand the project to the point where more than ten million eligible nominations were received.”
“The final result remained uncertain until just two weeks before the survey closure, with Emirates and Cathay Pacific both leading the survey rankings at different periods of the 10-month project. The consistency of the SIA staff service delivery, allied to great inflight entertainment appeared to be two key factors to the airline securing its first Skytrax Airline of the Year title.”
Emirates did not only come second but also won the Best Economy Class and Best Middle East titles.
Cathay Pacific fell from the first to the third place this year, but it held the titles for Best Transpacific Airline and Best First Class.
Qantas moved up one place from last year to occupy the fourth position. It won the Best Australasia title and ended up second and third respectively for Best First Class and Best Business Class.
Thai Airways jumped to the fifth position from the eighth. Cabin staff service, ample legroom for the economy class and good catering placed Thai in its very first top-five ranking in the Skytrax survey, but it didn’t score well on inflight entertainment and business class seating.
