Every year in June or July, Skytrax would announce the year’s top airlines, see my previous post for 2017. This year’s Skytrax World Airline Awards were announced in London on 15 July 2018, coinciding with the Farnborough Air Show. The awards are based on surveys of more than 20 million travellers, who rated more than 335 airlines between August 2017 and May 2018. Read more..Singapore Airlines snatched the crown this year, knocking off Qatar (top in 2017) as it scored highly across both product and service. Below is the summary lists of Skytrax top airlines in 2018
World’s best airlines for 2018
- Singapore Airlines
- Qatar Airways
- ANA All Nippon Airways
- Emirates
- EVA Air
- Cathay Pacific Airways
- Lufthansa
- Hainan Airlines
- Garuda Indonesia
- Thai Airways
- Qantas (15th in 2017)
Best economy class
(click on the links for Traveller’s reviews of these airlines)
- Thai Airways (Review: A350 economy class)
- Singapore Airlines (Review: A380 economy class)
- Qatar Airways (Review: Airbus A330 economy class)
- Emirates (Review: A380 economy class)
- ANA All Nippon Airways (Review: ANA Dreamliner economy class)
- Cathay Pacific Airways (Review: A350 economy class)
- Garuda Indonesia (Review: A330 economy class)
- EVA Air
- Lufthansa (Review: A380 economy class)
- Japan Airlines
Best premium economy class
- Air New Zealand (Review Dreamliner premium economy)
- Qantas Airways (Review: A380 premium economy)
- Singapore Airlines (Review A350 premium economy)
- Lufthansa
- Air France
- Aeroflot
- EVA Air
- Japan Airlines (Review 777 premium economy)
- Virgin Australia
- China Airlines
Best business class
- Qatar Airways (Review: A380 business class)
- Singapore Airlines (Review: A350 business class)
- ANA All Nippon Airways (Review: Dreamliner business class)
- Emirates (Review: A380 business class)
- Etihad Airways (Review: 777 business class)
- Qantas Airways (Review:787 Dreamliner business class)
- Cathay Pacific Airways (Review: 777 business class)
- Lufthansa
- Turkish Airlines
- EVA Air
In Skytrax site, one can search the airlines data and ratings using filters by region, full service or low-cost airlines, etc.
Of interest in the Australia-Pacific region, Qantas dominated the awards, taking out best airline, best first class, best business class, best economy class and best staff.
AirAsia was named world’s best low-cost airline (ranked 22nd overall), the 10th year in a row it has won the award. Other notable awards included Garuda Indonesia winning world’s best cabin crew for the fifth year in a row, Emirates winning best inflight entertainment for its 14th year running, and China Southern winning most improved airline.