While we’re paying a lot of attention to sales and orders for new airplanes at this year’s Paris Air Show, airline and airport customer review website Skytrax on Tuesday listed its top 100 airlines for 2017. The top U.S.-based airline is Delta Air Lines, which moved up from 35th place in 2016 to 32nd place in this year’s rankings.
The Skytrax World Airline Awards have been called the “Oscars of the aviation industry” and the survey covers both full-service and low-cost airlines, measuring standards across 49 key performance indicators of airline front-line product and service.
The top five airlines in 2017 were the same five that topped the 2016 ranking but the order changed:
- Qatar Airways moved up from second place last year.
- Singapore Airlines moved up from number three.
- All Nippon Airways (ANA) moved up from number five.
- Emirates fell from number one.
- Cathay Pacific fell from fourth place in 2016.
Other U.S. carriers and their rankings include:
- Alaska Airlines: 36th, up from 60th in 2016
- JetBlue Airways: 39th, up from 53rd
- Virgin America: 43rd, down from 25th (now part of Alaska Airlines)
- Southwest Airlines: 54th, up from 66th
- American Airlines: 74th, up from 77th
- United Airlines: 78th, down from 68th
- Hawaiian Airlines: 86th, down from 72nd
- American Eagle: 87th, down from 84th
The Skytrax survey covered more than 320 global air carriers and here are details on the methodology. Here is the full list of the top 100 world airlines as determined by Skytrax.
