OAG's European Press Release:

LONDON - JANUARY 19 1999: British Airways, Swissair and Virgin Atlantic today were among the European airlines winning accolades at the 1999 "OAG Airline of the Year" Awards, the air transport industry's premier global awards, voted for by frequent business travellers around the world and organised by travel information publisher OAG Worldwide.

The awards, announced simultaneously in Washington D.C., London and Hong Kong, saw British Airways win ten awards, including a global gold for its first class service; gold awards for best European airline and its frequent flyer programme in Europe; silver for best transatlantic carrier and bronze awards for its services to the Far East/Australasia and for its short-haul Executive/ business class. Emirates retained the title of "OAG Airline of the Year".

Swissair won nine awards, including a gold for best short-haul executive/ business class within Europe and the Middle East, and a silver for the same class globally. The Swiss carrier also won four other silver and three bronze awards.

Virgin Atlantic also made its mark on the awards by taking two gold and one silver award in the global categories and a further two golds and one bronze in the European awards. In the Transatlantic service it took gold, along with the long-haul executive/ business class, while taking bronze in the best European airline category.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines took silver for best service from Europe to the Far East/Australasia, also winning a bronze award for its Transatlantic service, and two further bronze awards within the European region. British Midland captured gold for its short-haul economy service within Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

The importance of frequent flyer programmes to European travellers was emphasised by the
silver and bronze awards won by SAS and Sabena respectively, with British Airways taking gold.

Travellers aren't just concerned about their flight, placing emphasis on the airport as well, so airport awards also were included. Copenhagen Airport was voted best airport in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, with Manchester and Amsterdam Schiphol taking silver and bronze. Copenhagen Airport also achieved a bronze award in the global "Airport of the Year" category.

Sandy Whetton, president of OAG Worldwide, says: "European carriers continue to offer high service standards, ensuring that they continue to compete effectively in a busy market-place.
British Airways, Swissair and Virgin Atlantic have all demonstrated that they can provide quality service on a global scale, which has been recognised in their awards this year."

Established over the last 16 years as a barometer of the views of UK business travellers, the
awards have become coveted industry honours. OAG Worldwide relaunched these awards for
1999 and extended the voting to frequent travellers around the world.

The profile of the voters - subscribers to OAG Worldwide's print and electronic travel
information services, including the OAG Pocket Flight Guides, OAG Flight Planners and OAG
FlightDisk - represents the very essence of corporate business travel globally. It is this which
differentiates the OAG awards from other award programmes.

All collection and analysis of data was developed and carried out by ACNielsen International
Research, one of the largest research consultancies in the world. The methodology was
developed specifically to ensure that all airlines and airports, irrespective of size, competed on a
level playing field, and the analysis of votes cast was conducted under strict market research
codes of practice.


[This message has been edited by Merry (edited 01-20-99).]