Dubai: The three largest Gulf carriers, Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways, have been named on the list of the world’s top ten carriers at the annual World Airline Awards.
Qatar Airways matched last year’s finish as the second best airline in the world. Emirates dropped from being 2013’s best airline to this year’s fourth best. Etihad dropped from seventh to ninth.
Cathay Pacific took this year’s top title after placing sixth in last year’s awards.
The World Airline Awards are run by aviation research firm Skytrax.
Middle Eastern and Asian carrier dominated the top ten with Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa the only carriers from Europe making to the list. No airline from the United States featured in the top ten.
Last month, Etihad announced it would no longer participate in Skytrax after stating it was not happy with the rating system. However, Skytrax has said that the airline could not leave as the awards are decided by passengers, and not the firm.
“An airline cannot be withdrawn from the World Airline Awards, since these results are directly decided by customers. Skytrax do not exercise control over which airlines are nominated in the survey ratings, and to subsequently try and conceal the results of a public vote would be unacceptable,” Skytrax has reportedly said in a statement.
Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways - all ranked in the top ten for best first class cabin, placing third, fifth and eighth, respectively. Etihad announced its new luxury cabin this year, which will feature on its Airbus A380s once delivered from Airbus, while Qatar Airways is focusing more on its business class offering.
Qatar Airways was ranked as having the best business class cabin, with Etihad placed seventh and Emirates ninth.
