NEWS FLASH
Air Serbia, Croatia Airlines and Air Montenegro have been named among Eastern Europe’s best carriers at the annual World Airline Awards, hosted by Skytrax. For the eighth time, the two largest carriers from the former Yugoslavia have been featured among the best in the category, while Air Montenegro made its first appearance. Furthermore, Air Serbia has also been named among Europe’s top regional airlines and among the world’s best regional carriers.
Air Serbia was voted Eastern Europe’s fourth best, behind airBaltic, LOT Polish Airlines and Wizz Air, while Croatia Airlines placed sixth, proceeding CSA Czech Airlines. Air Montenegro entered the list for the first time, placing tenth. Air Serbia was also named the third best regional airline in Europe, behind Aegean Airlines and Air Dolomiti. Furthermore, it came twentieth in the category of best regional carriers in the world, just behind American Eagle and Qantas Link.
The World Airline Awards, described as “the Oscars of the aviation industry”, are the most coveted quality accolades for the world airline industry and a global benchmark of airline excellence handed out based on passenger experience. The 2024 awards, held in London, are based on a customer survey period from September 2023 to May 2024. Over thirteen million eligible customer surveys were completed, across a range of topics, resulting in the awards for airline of the year, together with regional and best airline awards. All entries are screened to identify each IP / user information, with duplicate or ineligible entries deleted. The awards are said to be 100% independent with no payment by any airline or other outside organisation for any aspect of the customer survey or awards presentation event. Over 100 different nationalities participated in the customer satisfaction survey. The surveys measure standards across 49 key performance indicators of airline front-line product and service.
Qatar Airways was named as the airline of the year. It scooped the accolade for the eighth time in the 25-year history of the awards. Last year’s winter Singapore Airlines was runner up while Emirates came third. Saudi Arabian Airlines was recognised as being the world’s most improved, while Europe’s best carrier was Turkish Airlines, ahead of Air France and Swiss. Star Alliance was named the world’s best group of airlines.