Air New Zealand has been hailed as Airline of the Year for 2020, according to AirlineRatings.com, the Australia-based aviation safety, and product rating agency.
The Kiwi carrier is being honored for the sixth time for its record-breaking performance, multi award-winning in-flight innovations, operational safety, environmental leadership and motivation of its staff. With these factors have stamped the airline as a clear industry leader.
The AirlineRatings.com Airline Excellence Awards, judged by seven editors with over 200 years’ industry experience, combine major safety and government audits, with 12 key criteria that include: fleet age, passenger reviews, profitability, investment rating, product offerings, and staff relations.
www.AirlineRatings.com Editor-in-Chief Geoffrey Thomas said: “In our analysis, Air New Zealand came out number one in most of our audit criteria, which is an outstanding performance when it is up against carriers with more resources and scale.”
Air New Zealand also won Best Premium Economy, while Singapore Airlines won Best First Class and Qatar Airways Best Catering and Best Business Class.
Elsewhere, Qantas has been awarded the Best Domestic Airline Service and Best Lounges.
When it comes to the Best Cabin Crew and Best Economy Class, Virgin Australia triumphed whilst Emirates has been awarded Best In-Flight Entertainment, Cebu Pacific; Most Improved Airline and VietJet Air; Best Ultra Low-Cost airline.
Excellence in Long Haul travel: Delta Air Lines (Americas), Lufthansa (Europe), Emirates (Middle-East/Africa) Cathay Pacific Airways (Asia)
Best Low-Cost Airline; JetBlue (Americas), Wizz (Europe) Air Arabia, (Middle-East Africa) and AirAsia / AirAsia X (Asia/Pacific).
AirlineRatings.com also named its Top Twenty Airlines:
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