Qatar Airways named best airline in...

The Skytrax Awards customer survey ran for 23 months, covering travel during pre-pandemic and pandemic times

The results of the 2021 Skytrax Awards have been announced. Though the voting usually only takes the past year into account, this year, voting for the awards was extended from September 2019 to July 2021 as a result of travel restrictions resulting from the pandemic.

Qatar Airways was named Airline of the Year, replacing last year’s highest-ranked airline, Singapore Airlines, from the top spot. This year, Singapore Airlines ranked in second place, and Japan’s All Nippon Airways came in third.

Other regional airlines also ranked highly with Dubai’s Emirates Airline coming in fourth and Etihad Airways ranked 21st out of 350 airlines across the globe.

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Emirates was recognised for its Inflight Entertainment and First Class Cabin, taking top honours in both categories. The Dubai airline was also awarded a Covid-19 Excellence Award. Customers voted for the award based on the level of safety standards observed during the pandemic.

Abu Dhabi’s Etihad also received a Covid-19 Excellence Award. This airline was the first in the world to fully vaccinate its crew and it requires 100% of its passengers to show a negative PCR test before boarding a flight to any destination.

Saudia was named the World’s Most Improved Airline. KSA’s national airline recorded a 55% improvement this year, moving up the global rankings to 26th position, from 57th in 2019.

The top 10 list in full: