WORLD'S BEST AIRLINES FOR 2022 NAMED BY AIRLINERATINGS.COM

The world's Best Airlines for 2022 have been named by AirlineRatings.com, the world's only safety, product, and COVID rating website, and the airline of the year is Qatar Airways. The Doha-based airline nudged out Air New Zealand, Etihad Airways and Korean Air for the top spot in AirlineRatings.com Best Airlines for 2022 followed by Singapore Airlines, Qantas and Virgin Australia. READ: Top Twenty Airlines for 2022 READ: Top Ten Low Cost Airlines for 2022  Qatar Airways is being honoured for its innovation, product, and industry leadership as well as its commitment to keeping the world's critical long-haul air routes open during COVID-19 over the past 30 months which has resulted in the airline posting a record profit, despite losing money on many capped flights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxL3mTAXVEc AirlineRatings.com Editor-in-Chief Geoffrey Thomas said "Airline Ratings' Excellence awards which highlight the world's Best Airlines are aptly named, for, at every touchpoint, excellence is the goal at Qatar Airways led by Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr Akbar Al Baker. "Mr Al Baker’s drive for perfection has led to many improvements in aircraft and travellers across the world are better off because of the pursuit of excellence of Qatar Airways. "The airline has a host of industry firsts. First to complete IATA’s important IOSA safety audit and first to be fully COVID audited and compliant by both AirlineRatings and Skytrax." Qatar Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Akbar Al Baker said: “Winning these awards are another ringing endorsement of everything that we stand for as an airline as Qatar Airways is fully committed to providing an unrivalled customer experience. "Our goal is to deliver excellence and once again securing the ‘Airline of the Year’, ‘Best Airline in the Middle East’ and ‘Best Business Class’ demonstrates that we continue to lead the industry as passengers return to the skies." The AirlineRatings.com Airline Excellence Awards which honour the Best Airlines, are compiled by global editors with over 100 years of industry experience using an objective value-based methodology. The criteria include safety and product ratings, passenger reviews, fleet age, profitability, and environmental commitment. Qatar Airways also took out Best Business Class. “The airline’s Qsuite is a first-class experience in business class and our judges rated it as the best overall business-class product they had seen," said Mr Thomas. Air New Zealand was again another big winner in the AirlineRatings.com Airline Excellence Awards taking out number 2 position in the Top Twenty Airlines rankings, Best Airline in the Pacific, Best Premium Economy, and Best Economy. Air New Zealand punches way above its weight," Mr Thomas said. "In so many ways it has set the standard for airline excellence over the past 15 years. Its Premium Economy is just superb and the benchmark in the industry and without doubt the best value in the sky." And the airline has just unveiled a major make-over and new products that will be introduced in 2024. Singapore Airlines won the prestigious Best First Class award for its unique Suites product and also Best Lounges. The six Suites in this stylish cabin at the front of the upper deck of the airline’s flagship Airbus A380s are designed to be the equivalent of small hotel rooms.

Virgin Australia won Best Cabin Crew and Emirates was awarded Best Inflight Entertainment. Several new award categories were added this year and the winners are Etihad Airways for Best Environmental Airline, Korean Air for Best Cargo Airline and Vietjet which won Best Value Airline.

Qantaslink won Best Regional Airline for its outstanding work in the remote Australian outback. Excellence in Long Haul travel was awarded to: jetBlue (Americas), Turkish Airlines (Europe), Qatar Airways (Middle-East/Africa), Korean Air (Asia) and Air New Zealand (Pacific). Best Low-Cost Airlines are: Southwest (Americas), easyjet (Europe) and Jetstar (Asia/Pacific) and Fly Dubai (Middle-East). Top Twenty Airlines 2022 AirlineRatings.com also named its Best of the Best: Qatar Airways, Air New Zealand, Etihad Airways, Korean Air, Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Virgin Australia, EVA Air, Turkish Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Japan Air Lines, JetBlue, Finnair, Emirates, Hawaiian, Air France/KLM, Alaska Airlines and British Airways.