Celebrating the Airlines Passengers Love Most

AirlineRatings.com is proud to announce the winners of its 2025 Flyers' Choice Awards, spotlighting the airlines that passengers around the world rank as their favourites.

Voting for this year’s awards opened on April 3, 2025, inviting travellers to nominate their preferred airline in any region they had flown, as well as recognise outstanding performance in a range of unique categories:

• Favourite Airline by Region

• Best Cabin Crew Service

• Best Cabin Crew Uniform

• Most Eye-Catching Aircraft Livery

• Airline That Gave the Greatest Peace of Mind

Unlike the World’s Safest Airlines and World’s Best Airline awards—which are judged by AirlineRatings expert editorial team using strict and measurable criteria—the Flyers' Choice Awards are entirely people-powered. Based solely on traveller feedback, they provide authentic insight into which carriers are truly winning over passengers.

Below is the top three in each category, ranked according to the number of verified votes received. The only exception is the "Airline That Gave the Greatest Peace of Mind" category, for which seven airlines were selected to reflect AirlineRatings' highest 7-star safety rating.

Preferred Airline USA/Canada

1. Delta

2. Air Canada

3. United

Preferred Airline Australia and Pacific Ocean

1. Qantas

2. Air New Zealand

3. Virgin Australia

Preferred Airline UK/Europe

1. British Airways

2. Lufthansa

3. Air Baltic

Preferred Airline Middle East and Africa

1. Emirates

2. Qatar

3. Etihad

Preferred Airline North Asia

(Japan, Korea, Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong SAR, Taiwan Regions)

1. Cathay Pacific

2. Japan Airlines

3. Korean Air

Preferred Airline South East Asia

1. Singapore Airlines

2. Philippine Airlines

3. Malaysia Airlines

Preferred Airline Central/South America

1. Avianca

2. LATAM

3. Copa

Best Airline Livery

(the airline’s visual identity on the aircraft)

1. Qantas

2. Etihad

3. Air New Zealand

AirlineRatings CEO Sharon Petersen commented: “I had expected Pacific Island carriers like Air Tahiti Nui or Fiji Airways to rank higher, but they ultimately couldn’t surpass the richness of Etihad’s gold-hued livery, the iconic Flying Kangaroo of Qantas, or the striking beauty of Air New Zealand’s Koru symbol paired with its distinctive black-and-white fern design.”

Best Cabin Crew Service

1. Singapore Airlines

2. Qatar

3. Emirates and Cathay Pacific

Best Cabin Crew Uniform

1. Singapore Airlines

2. Emirates

3. Air New Zealand and Virgin Australia

Petersen said: “What I loved about these cabin crew results is just how close the competition was—we even had to declare a tie for third place, as the margin wasn’t statistically significant. We wanted these awards to be fun and entirely customer-driven, and the sheer volume of votes in the cabin crew categories shows that, even in an era of more accessible travel, there’s still a sense of glamour and admiration surrounding the cabin crew uniform. As the face of the airline, the service they provide is not only essential—it’s often undervalued.”

Airline That Gave the Greatest Peace of Mind When Flying

(Top seven selected to reflect AirlineRatings’ seven-star safety rating)

1. Qantas

2. Singapore Airlines

3. Qatar

4. Etihad

5. Cathay Pacific

6. Emirates

7. Air New Zealand

Commenting specifically on the Airline That Gave Travellers the Greatest Peace of Mind results, Petersen said:

“After a tragic year for aviation, this was a particularly compelling question, and one where I honestly didn’t know what to expect. Qantas has long been regarded as one of the safest airlines in the world, consistently ranking in the top three of our World’s Safest Airlines listings every year. The famous line from Rain Man, where Dustin Hoffman’s character says, ‘Qantas, never crashed,’ perfectly captures the airline’s well-established safety reputation, which remains just as strong 27 years later.

Another standout was Singapore Airlines. Despite a turbulence incident in May 2024, public trust in the carrier remains unwavering. This speaks volumes about the brand’s strength, passenger loyalty, and the confidence in safety it continues to inspire. Emirates, Qatar, Cathay Pacific, and Etihad consistently feature in the top 10 of our World’s Safest Airlines Awards, and rightly so, with impeccable safety and incident records, along with top-class training and safety practices.

Given the significantly smaller size and reach of Air New Zealand, the fact that it drew the 7th highest number of votes competing against major global carriers really says it all. Air New Zealand has won AirlineRatings’ World’s Safest Airline award on multiple occasions.

We chose to share the top seven airlines in this category rather than just the top three to align with our seven-star safety rating system.”

READ: How our Safety Ratings work