The GCC is blessed with only some of the top airlines in the world.
We recently discovered that Qatar Airways has unseated Air New Zealand as the world’s best carrier, as judged by AirlineRatings.com.
Here we look at this achievement and what UAE’s national carriers did to earn prestigious awards of their own.
Qatar Airways
The Australia-based aviation specialist site AirlineRatings.com also awarded Qatar the best Middle East airline, best catering, and best business class.
Air New Zealand has been a regular winner of the top award, winning it six times, including for 2020.
AirlineRatings judges assess airlines on 11 criteria including customer reviews, product offerings, safety, fleet age, profitability and environmental leadership, and now Covid compliance.
Virgin Australia won best cabin crew while best in-flight entertainment went to Emirates Airlines.
Emirates Airlines
Last May, Emirates Airlines was voted ‘Best Airline Worldwide’ for the eighth consecutive time by the Business Traveller Middle East Awards 2021. The airline also took home accolades for ‘Airline with the Best First Class’, and ‘Airline with Best Economy Class’.
The wins demonstrate Emirates’ strategic approach to continuously improving the onboard and on ground experience, offering a safe customer journey across all touchpoints, leaving no detail behind, while ensuring it meets evolving customer expectations during the most challenging period the air travel industry has experienced.
To maintain its industry leadership, the airline has also doubled down on its digital approach to modernize the air travel experience by fully launching and scaling up its biometric path and touchless check-in for a safer, contactless travel experience. Over 33 Emirates biometric checkpoints and close to 50 touchless kiosks lay across Dubai International Airport.
The airline was a first mover in the industry when it introduced free Covid-19 cover to help customers travel with more…