Qatar Airways is 2024’s “Airline of the Year,” according to AirlineRatings.com.
The Doha-based airline is back on top, after falling to No. 2, behind Air New Zealand, in 2023.
The list combines major safety and government audits with 12 key criteria, from product ratings and passenger reviews to safety, fleet age and incident reports, according to the website.
This year’s list is again dominated by Middle Eastern and Asia-Pacific carriers, though Europe’s Air France/KLM entered the ranking at No. 6.
The complete top 25 list of premium airlines for 2024, according to AirlineRatings.com, is as follows:
1. Qatar Airways
2. Korean Air
3. Cathay Pacific Airways
4. Air New Zealand
5. Emirates
6. Air France/KLM
7. All Nippon Airways
8. Etihad Airways
9. Qantas
10. Virgin Australia/Atlantic
11. Vietnam Airlines
12. Singapore Airlines
13. EVA Air
14. TAP Portugal
15. JAL
16. Finnair
17. Hawaiian
18. Alaska Airlines
19. Lufthansa / Swiss
20. Turkish Airlines
21. IGA Group (British Airways, Iberia)
22. Air Canada
23. Delta Air Lines
24. United Airlines
25. American Airlines
In an article announcing the ranking, AirlineRatings.com Editor-in-Chief Geoffrey Thomas said “Qatar Airways came out number one in many key areas although it was a very close scoring for the top ten.”
Qatar Airways also won the “Best Business Class” category for the fifth time in a row, while Singapore Airlines was named “Best First Class” and Air New Zealand for “Best Economy Class.”
“Best Premium Economy” was awarded to Emirates, which was also named as having the “Best In-Flight Entertainment.”
For the third year in a row, Etihad Airways took top honors as the “Best Environmental Airline,” rounding out wins for each of the “ME3 carriers” — a term to describe the dominant three Middle Eastern airlines: Doha’s Qatar Airways, Dubai’s Emirates and Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways.
The top 25 low-cost carriers
AirlineRatings.com also assesses low-cost airlines using 12 criteria, but does not rank the top 25 winners.
Here is the 2024 list, in alphabetical order:
• AirAsia Group
• Air Baltic
• Air Canada Rouge
• Cebu Pacific
• EasyJet
• Eurowings
• FlyDubai
• FlyNAS
• GOL
• Jeju Air
• JetBlue
• Jetstar Group
• Jet2
• Norwegian
• Peach
• Ryanair
• Scoot
• SpiceJet
• Southwest Airlines
• Sun Country Airlines
• Transavia
• Vietjet
• Volotea
• Vueling
• WizzAir
The website also names the best low-cost carriers by region, which are:
• Americas: Southwest Airlines
• Middle East: FlyDubai
• Asia: AirAsia Group
• Australia/Pacific: Jetstar Group
• Europe: EasyJet
Vietnam’s Vietjet was named the best ultra low-cost airline and the best low-cost airline for onboard hospitality.