AIRLINE OF THE YEAR 2004


PRESS + MEDIA INFORMATION



After just over 10 months of passenger voting, the Skytrax Airline of the Year survey logged a total of 10.8 million eligible entries. An increase of over 6 million respondents from our 2003 survey, the scale of global coverage was larger than previous years, and more than 92 different nationalities participated.



The final 2004 Survey figure is the same as if every man, women and child in Portugal had voted - or half of Air France's annual 22 million passengers voted - or .... well, it is a phenomenal figure!



The reputation as the "world's largest passenger survey" is a title Skytrax protect with vigilance, and throughout the period of operation, survey input monitoring was maintained at a consistent level. Being the biggest survey of it's type is not a guarantee to success on it's own, and strict monitoring of all input received via the online questionnaires was applied at all stages.



The final top 10 Survey rankings are:



1 Singapore Airlines

2 Emirates

3 Cathay Pacific

4 Qantas Airways

5 Thai Airways

6 British Airways

7 Qatar Airways

8 Malaysia Airlines

9 Continental Airlines

10 ANA All Nippon Airways




The much prized 2004 Airline of the Year title was won by Singapore Airlines, but only after some considerable challenges by Emirates (2nd) and Cathay Pacific (3rd) - both of these carriers being in the title position on several occasions through the 10 month period of the survey.



In addition to scooping the 2004 Airline of the Year title, Singapore Airlines takes the award for "Best Airline Asia" - and was amongst the top three performers as Best Transpacific, Best First Class and Best Economy Class airline.



Commenting on the 2004 Survey results, Peter Miller (Director Marketing - Skytrax) said .....



"When we started the 2004 Survey, many parts of Asia were still reeling from the SARS crisis, and allied to continuing terrorism threats against the airline industry, we were unsure of what growth we would achieve in survey nominations. As it transpired, recovery was swift and the launch of our new dedicated survey website enabled us to expand the project to the point where more than 10 million eligible nominations were received."



"Skytrax Airline Surveys are now recognised across the world as the leading global monitor of passenger opinions - the survey format process offering the only truly global project with open and uninfluenced results. The final total of 10.8 million eligible, completed survey questionnaires was beyond our expectations, and we pay tribute to all those customers who participated."



"The final result remained uncertain until just 2 weeks before survey closure, with Emirates (2nd) and Cathay Pacific (3rd) both leading the survey rankings at different periods of the 10 month project, and it is with all credit to the final winner, Singapore Airlines that they were able to maintain a steady level of support to clinch the title. The consistency of the SIA staff service delivery, allied to great inflight entertainment appeared to be two key factors to the airline securing it's first Skytrax Airline of the Year title - Singapore Airlines also being voted Best Airline S E Asia, and ranked 3rd for Best First Class and Best Economy Class respectively."



"The dividing margins between 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions were just a few thousand nominations, and in taking the survey Silver Award for a second consecutive year, Emirates was also the recipient of the Best Economy Class and Best Middle East airline titles. Again, key factors of support behind the Emirates voting were their standards of cabin staff service, onboard catering and inflight entertainment."



"Last year's winner, Cathay Pacific, may have slipped into 3rd position overall, but as stated, the final vote differentials were relatively slim - and Cathay Pacific does not go away empty-handed, being the winner of the 2004 Best Transpacific Airline and 2004 Best First Class titles."



"Qantas moved up one place to take 4th position in the 2004 survey, as well as clinching the Best Airline Australasia title - together with securing 2nd place as Best First Class, and the new Qantas Business Class product pushing them up to 3rd place in Best Business Class category. Looking at passenger feedback on the Qantas nominations, the airline still scores well for standards of staff service, and recent product improvements particularly to the economy cabin have won a lot of loyal support."



"Thai Airways moves into the top 5 rankings for the first time, from 8th position in 2003. Cabin staff service, economy cabin legroom and onboard catering were high support factors for Thai, whilst poor IFE and business class seating were the negative aspects."



"In sixth position (unchanged from their 2003 ranking) British Airways was named as the Best Business Class and Best Transatlantic airline - with rival UK carrier, Virgin Atlantic, new business class product not available enough to influence their final 2004 positioning. No doubt this is something to watch in next year's survey voting, as also the new Business Class product introduction by South African Airways !"



"The highest moving entrant into the 2004 top rankings is Qatar Airways in 8th place (up from 24th in 2003). With media releases trumpeting their status as the world's fastest growing airline, Qatar Airways scored very well for the quality of staff service delivery, and generally high product standards across all their cabin categories. Qatar Airways also took 2nd place in the Best Middle East Airline category."



"Malaysia Airlines (8th position) slipped slightly from last year's 5th place ranking, although this is another airline where we would expect next year's performance to be enhanced by their upgraded First and Business Class products due to come on stream later in 2004. As the recipient of the Best Cabin Staff Award several years in succession, we have yet to see if Malaysia Airlines are able to repeat their success for the 2004 title".



"The growing global interest in low-cost airlines was duly recognised in the final Survey results, with JetBlue Airways voted the world's Best Low-Cost Airline for 2004, ahead of Virgin Blue in 2nd and Southwest Airlines 3rd. What was also surprising, is that JetBlue was also voted 2nd Best Airline for North America - against it's full service rivals - and Virgin Blue also achieved similar recognition by taking 3rd place in the Best Airline Australasia category (behind Qantas and Air New Zealand)".



"Around the regions, South African Airways takes the Best Airline Africa title for the 4th successive year - well ahead of it's nearest survey rival, Kenya Airways. British Airways retained it's position as Best Airline Europe, ahead of SWISS (who also took 2nd place in 2003). TAM Brazilian was named as Best Airline South America, with Copa Airlines securing the title for Best Airline Central America".



"Dragonair secures the Best Airline China title, well ahead of mainland rivals China Southern and China Eastern Airlines, whilst in Europe, PGA Portugalia Airlines followed up it's 2003 award as 2004 Best European Regional Airline".



In final summary, Peter Miller added ....

"in some respects I am not a great follower of league tables, and our primary objective is not to simply create another ranking list. The central purpose of Skytrax surveys is to apply a methodology that enables a truly global input .... and meaningful global result to represent passenger opinions and views. Conduct a survey in say just Hong Kong or just Europe, and one will achieve a much less balanced sample of today's global air travellers - hence our central goal to find out what the world thinks, about the world airlines! A great asset for our 2004 study was the publication of multi-language survey questionnaires - in addition to English, we offered Arabic, Chinese and Spanish options, and expect to extend this further in the 2004/5 Survey".



"Our congratulations go to the 2004 Airline of the Year winner, Singapore Airlines. Whilst they (SIA) have been recipients of various travel awards in recent years, I am sure they will place great store in this particular achievement - not just as the only true global airline award, but with such recognition coming at the end of one of the most difficult years in their history. Likewise, our particular praise goes also to Emirates and Cathay Pacific in what was our closest ever survey result - had it ended a few weeks earlier, who knows which of the three would be holding the Award!"



"Finally, and of greatest importance, we have to thank every single one of the survey participants - without whom their would be no global accolade. Additional to the completed questionnaires, more than 90 per cent of respondents submitted their reasons behind vote nominations - leaving us now to work through many millions of comments in formulating the final Survey Report!"





London, UK - 13th April 2004







Press Release (pdf file - 65k)





For additional press enquiries, please contact:



Mr Peter Miller

Director Marketing

SKYTRAX