New Zealand air travellers have direct access to three of the world’s top four airlines.
The 2014 Skytrax World's Best Airline awards have been announced at the Farnborough International Airshow in England.
Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways was selected the best based on 18.85 million customer surveys collected between August 2013 and May 2014.
Two other international airlines serving New Zealand, Singapore Airlines and Emirates, were placed third and fourth.
Second was Qatar Airways, which flies only as far as Australia from its Doha hub.
Air New Zealand was placed 16th behind Qantas (11th) and Virgin Australia (15th). Malaysia Airlines, operator of missing Flight MH370, was in the top 20 at 18th.
In other categories Air New Zealand was eighth for its inflight entertainment system, with Emirates top and Singapore Airlines second.
Singapore Airlines was top for its first class cabin and third for business class.
Cathay Pacific was second for its cabin crew and business class, as well as fourth for its first class and fifth for economy..
Cathay Pacific also scored third for both its first class and business lounges.
Jetstar was voted fourth among the world’s low-cost carriers and top in the Australia-Pacific region.
Qantas was top full service operator in Australia-Pacific, ahead of Virgin Australia, Air New Zealand, Jetstar and Fiji Airways.
The 2014 World Airline Awards survey involved more than 105 nationalities and covered 245 airlines. The surveys measure standards across 41 key performance indicators of airline frontline product and service.
Nevil Gibson
Wed, 16 Jul 2014
Wed, 16 Jul 2014
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Farnborough: Cathay Pacific named world's best airline
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