The World's Best Airlines, Ranked In A New Report

28.05.2024 - 03:29 / forbes.com / Geoffrey Thomas

In a year marked by significant recovery and transformation within the airline industry, AirlineRatings.com has revealed its much-anticipated list of the world’s best airlines for 2024.

AirlineRatings.com, the only global safety and product rating website, combines major safety and government audits with 12 key factors, including fleet age, passenger reviews, profitability, safety rating, product rating, innovation and forward fleet orders.

Topping the chart for 204 is Qatar Airways, which was named the airline of the year, thanks to its superior service and innovation. This win positions Qatar Airways ahead of former champions like Air New Zealand, which topped the list in 2023.

“In our objective analysis, Qatar Airways came out number one in many key areas, although it was a very close scoring for the top five,” Geoffrey Thomas, editor-in-chief at AirlineRatings.com, told me in an interview. “Qatar Airways won due to very positive passenger reviews across its business class and economy cabins.”

In addition to the overall ranking of global carriers, AirlineRatings.com also awards airlines in various categories. This year, Qatar Airways was named best business class for the fifth consecutive year and best catering.

Other notable winners for 2024 include Air New Zealand (which won for best economy class), Singapore Airlines (best first class), Virgin Australia (best cabin crew), Emirates (best in-flight entertainment, best premium economy), Qantas (best lounges) and Etihad Airways (best environmental airline).

On the other hand, the performance of U.S. carriers was lackluster: JetBlue came in at number 16, followed by Hawaiian Airlines (number 17) and Alaska Airlines (number 18). The major legacy carriers were at the bottom of the list, with Delta Air Lines at number 23, United Airlines at number 24 and American Airlines at number 25.

“The big U.S. carriers continued to do badly due to high fleet age and very poor passenger feedback,” he says.

Airline Ratings.com also ranked the best low-cost airlines by region, and the winners were Southwest (for the Americas), Fly Dubai (Middle East), AirAsia Group (Asia), Jetstar Group (Australia/Pacific) and easyJet (Europe). Vietjet also picked up two awards for best ultra low-cost airline and best low-cost airline onboard hospitality (which recognizes the value of its onboard offering).

According to Thomas, the 2024 results reflected the post-COVID recovery within the airline industry. “The results for 2024 reflect the acceleration of the recovery in the airline industry after the massive disruption of COVID to staffing and supply chains,” he says. “Cathay Pacific Airways, Emirates and Air France moved right up the list to be in the top ten.”

And while there have