Best Airlines of 2015 Announced at Paris Airshow Awards

The Skytrax World Airline Awards are held each year to give credit to airlines as well as airports under various categories segregated in the order of region/route, passenger cabin classes (first, business, premium economy and economy), as well as in terms of specific services (catering, entertainment, cabin crew, seats and lounges).

These awards are also termed as “Passenger Choice Awards” which is why they are accredited high esteem owing to be voted chiefly by passenger experiences. The awards for this year were decided over passenger surveys taken from May 2014 to January 2015, taking input from nearly 19 million travellers across 550 airports over the globe.

Active since 1999, Skytrax has emerged as one of the highest brands in aviation award industry, hallmarked as being impartial and being completely dependent on passenger satisfaction while operating on a non-profit basis. It has no influence from any sponsorships or airline alliance groups.

The annual event was held at the Aerospace Museum of Le Bourget Airport, the main venue for the Global Paris Air Show. Stages were set at the main EXPO exhibition hall of the airport. The air show has featured civilian as well as military aircraft from private and corporate manufacturers, airlines, as well as the armed forces of the world. The Skytrax World Airline Awards have often been held on the occasion of the Paris Air Show in the past.

Among the biggest winners of this year’s event was Qatar Airways, awarded as the overall best airline for the year of 2015. Over the past two years, it came as the runner-up for the overall award, while winning it for the years 2012 and 2011. Consequently, it also won the award for being the top air operator in the Middle East, along with providing the best seats in Business class category.

The entire Premium Economy Class category was swept clean by Air New Zealand, winning the airline seat award, in-flight catering award as well as the overall Premium economy award. Turkish Airlines had its business class lounges along with the lounge dining facilities winning accolades in the Business lounge category.

South African Airways and Air Asia followed the longest winning strings; South African becoming the Best Airline in Africa for a record 13^th time along with having the best airline staff in the region, and Air Asia being the Best Airline in the budget commercial aviation category for the 7^th time. Turkish Airlines won the award for being the best airline in Europe for the 5^th time.

Other special mentions on the honour roll were Singapore Airlines for having the Best Business Class, Garuda Indonesia for having the best Cabin crew services, Eva Air for its maintenance in terms of cleanliness, and Emirates for having the best in-flight entertainment facilities. French flag carrier Air France was given recognition for being ‘the most improved airline’ over the span of the previous year.