Top 10 Airlines of 2020

For 2020, Airlinesrating.com awarded the following airlines:

1. Air New Zealand:

It is the sixth time that Air New Zealand won the title of the world’s best airline. Air New Zealand picked up the premium economy award alongside its overall title. The airlines also came out number one in most of the audit criteria and became the best airlines for showing commitment to excellence in all aspects of its business. Inflight innovations, environmental leadership, and staff motivation also played important roles in winning the best position.

2. Singapore Airlines:

In 2020, Singapore Airlines lost its crown to Air New Zealand. Singapore Airlines came in second after introducing its new A350 and 787-10 over the last two years, along with revamped A380s. Singapore Airlines took the Best First-class award for its Suites product, found at the front of the upper deck on the airline’s flagship Airbus A380s and designed to feel like small hotel rooms. The airline has pioneered many inventions for all cabin classes but its first-class is a clear standout. And more recently, it has taken that product to a new level with its new “Sky Room" Suites on the A380.
 
3. All Nippon Airways:

In 2020, Japan's All Nippon Airways claimed third place, hailed for being at the forefront of cabin innovation. The airlines met six out of seven criteria for COVID-19 compliance: COVID-19 website information and instructions, Social distancing onboarding, Flight attendant Personal Protection Equipment, Compulsory Face masks, Modified meal service, and Deep cleansing of aircraft.

4. Qantas:

The iconic Australian carrier picked up the coveted awards for Best Domestic Service and Best Lounges. Qantas Airways has remained faithful to the concept of a full-service airline on its huge domestic routes, offering all-in economy fares that cover checked luggage, blankets, food, entertainment, and, on some flights, complimentary beer, and wine. Its international First-class lounges are a favorite with well-heeled travelers while its international business-class lounges are up there with simplicity. New features like the gin bar in its New London Heathrow lounge and an outside barbecue area at its Perth International transit lounge have helped to reinforce its reputation. The domestic lounges also offer attractive perks such as complimentary seasonal food, Australian wine and beer, wi-fi, hydration bars, and the all-important barista coffee. 

5. Cathay Pacific:

Cathay Pacific Airways took the 5th spot and is always in the winner's circle. Previously, it won numerous awards from Airlineratings.com including Best Business Class in 2013 and 2015 and Best Asia/Pacific Airline for 2016. Pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong have had a significant impact on Cathay’s traffic and prompted it to form capacity changes on some routes. But still, it managed to provide its customers with world-class services. The airlines enhanced their inflight entertainment systems four-folds in order that passengers can anticipate to more newly released movies, sports coverage, complete boxsets, and Asian content. In 2020, Cathay Pacific was the winner in the long-haul airline Asia category.

6. Emirates:

Emirates won awards in two categories: Long haul middle east/ Africa and inflight entertainment award. They offer 4500 channels, inflight air-show, wi-fi, and a dedicated language learning app. Passengers can get weather, news, and sports reports and information about their flight on the screen and listen to music, radio or podcasts.

7. Virgin Atlantic:

Virgin Atlantic are a professional, polished, and enjoyable airline. The brand embodies brand British strongly and has an extremely strong product. The investment in key areas like catering, in-flight entertainment, and crew training shines through during the journey. Owing to the COVID-19 crisis, the company had to make job cuts across all departments but managed to keep up the services to ensure a safe journey for the passengers.

8. EVA Air:

EVA's high standards for safety, service, and cabin comfort earn high praise from multiple industries and government organizations per annum. Hot food options between mealtimes, plush down comforters, and enough legroom helped the airline to secure the 8th position. In response to the pandemic, the airline followed strict protocols to safeguard passenger’s health.

9. Qatar Airways:

The best business class and inflight catering award went to Qatar Airways. Qatar Airways business class “Q Suite” is stunning because it is a spacious, private, well-designed business class showcase that is packed with features designed to make travel more productive and comfortable. The airline offers dishes like dill marinated prawns with smoked salmon; Arabic spiced chicken with cinnamon-spiced sauce, rice with minced lamb and golden roasted onions, or Emmental cheese omelet with chicken patty Lyonnaise potatoes, roasted tomato, and chestnut mushrooms. The catering in Qatar premium classes is restaurant standard, and this helps set a higher bar for the service and food in the economy.

10.Virgin Australia:

Virgin Australia may be a big winner within the 2020 AirlineRatings.com Excellence Awards, removing the highly coveted Best Cabin Crew and Best Economy Class Airline. Virgin Australia's cabin crew treats every passenger as a special guest and their commitment to their passengers is outstanding and is a benchmark for the competitors. It's Economy X available across its fleet and the extra legroom product is popular among passengers.