Website Also Names Its Top 10 Airlines Of The Year

AirlineRatings.com, a safety and product rating website, has selected Air New Zealand as its Airline of the Year for 2014. The website said Air New Zealand is being honored for its "in-flight innovations, financial performance, operational safety and motivation of its staff that have stamped the airline an industry trendsetter."

The editorial team lauded Air New Zealand's commitment to a young fleet and its continual focus on the environment. The airline also won Best Premium Economy Class. Website Editor Geoffrey Thomas said, "[The] editorial team took special note of Air New Zealand's comprehensive long haul offering which has two multi-award winning products in the Skycouch and Spaceseat for economy minded passengers. "Quite simply, Air New Zealand is an airline of first choice. And given the airline's location and the country's size its performance is even more remarkable."

"These awards are a great way to kick off 2014 and reaffirm the hard work of more than 11,000 Air New Zealanders across our business, including airport and lounge teams, flight and cabin crew, cargo, operations and ramp staff, contact centers and corporate staff who all work tirelessly to deliver a consistent customer experience," said Air New Zealand's Chief Executive Officer Christopher Luxon.

Other winners in the Airline Excellence Awards are: Emirates, Qantas, Jetstar, Singapore Airlines, Silk Air, Cathay Pacific, Swiss International, Air Canada, JetBlue, Norwegian and flydubai.

Emirates has been awarded Best First Class, Best IFE and Best Long Haul Airline based in the Middle-East and Africa. The editors noted that Emirates is consistently amongst the finest in the industry across all aspects of service delivery and operational safety. AirlineRatings.com editors also praised Qantas' domestic economy class product stating that it was clearly the world's best.

The Singapore Airlines group picked up two awards: Best Regional Airline for subsidiary Silk Air and Best Long Haul Airline based in Asia/Pacific, while Cathay Pacific picked up Best Business Class and the award adds to a string of accolades the airline has won for its business class offering.

For value and safety in the Low Cost Airline sector the editors selected JetBlue for the Americas, Norwegian in Europe and flydubai for the Middle-East/Africa. The editors noted that these three airlines and Jetstar in Asia are clear industry leaders in innovation and bringing people together. For excellence in Long Haul the editors selected Air Canada for the Americas, Swiss International for Europe as well as Emirates for the Middle-East/Africa and Singapore Airlines for Asia/Pacific.

The website also announced its top ten airlines for the year. Heading the list is Air New Zealand followed by Emirates, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines and Qantas making up the top five. The editors also recognized Etihad Airways (6th), Royal Jordanian Airlines (7th) Swiss International (8th), Virgin Atlantic (9th) and All Nippon Airways (10th).

The website says it "celebrates and promotes excellence in the airline industry and the pinnacle of these efforts is its Airline Excellence Awards."

FMI: www.AirlineRatings.com