Airline rankings: Qatar gets the cream | The Economist

QATAR AIRWAYS remains the best airline in the world, according to Skytrax, a company specialising in airline and airport research which publishes annual rankings. Its top ten is dominated, as ever, by eastern carriers, with three from the Middle East, six from Asia and one from Turkey. Air New Zealand and Qantas were the only two of 2011's top ten to fail to make this year's group. The Australians' case would not have been helped, one suspects, by the strike-busting decision to ground planes last October.

The airline industry (and your blogger) gets reasonably excited about the awards because of their sheer breadth. Skytrax says it polled over 18m airline customers from over 100 countries, so it's tricky to dispute the results. The triumphant Qatari flag-carrier, which was only founded in 1993, has risen from fourth in 2009 and third in 2010 to top the rankings for two years now. It did not win any other worldwide category, but was rewarded for a strong performance across the board. Category-winners included Singapore Airlines (best economy class, though it offers a smaller seat pitch than Asiana), Cathay Pacific (best business class), Etihad (best first class) and AirAsia (best low-cost airline).

* username: rupertbu