Which are 5 best premium airlines?

Qatar Airways

An aircraft of Qatar Airways. Photo courtesy of the airline

Qatar Airways has won the Airline of the Year title for 2024 in AirlineRatings.com’s Airline Excellence Awards.

It won the title in 2021 and 2022 but lost it to Air New Zealand 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 ten", the website’s editor-in-chief Geoffrey Thomas said.

"The passenger reviews however scored Qatar Airways ahead of all airlines and its consistency and high standard of service delivery came through in the feedback", he added.

Qatar Airways also won the Best Business Class Award for the fifth year in a row.

Korean Air

A Korean Air jet. Photo courtesy of the airline

In the second place was Korean Air, who also won the Cargo Airline of the Year title.

Korean Air reported a first-quarter revenue of KRW3.8 trillion ($2.8 billion), up 20% year-on-year, driven by the strong recovery in passenger traffic and robust cargo demand.

Cathay Pacific Airways

Passenger seats in a Cathay Pacific Airways jet. Photo courtesy of the airline

Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways came in third and was also awarded the Excellence in Long-haul Travel Award for Southeast Asia.

AirlineRatings.com editors praise the airline for its comfortable seat, large leg room, and a large screen on each seat which offers a large variety of entertainment.

Air New Zealand

Passenger seats in a Air New Zealand jet. Photo courtesy of the airline

Air New Zealand was ranked in the fourth place and also awarded the Best Economy Class title.

It is also ranked as the Best Airline for Long-haul Travel in Australia and the Pacific.

The airline has been offering lie-flat bed seats in its economy section since 2011, which gives customers added comfort during long flights.

Emirates

Inside a jet of Emirates. Photo courtesy of the airline

Wrapping up the list is Dubai-based airline Emirates which also own the Best Premium Economy and Best In-flight Entertainment titles.

The airline was one of the first to introduce seat-back videos for economy passengers back in the early 1990s. It has led the field ever since and today the system has 6,500 channels making it a clear winner for Best Inflight.

Emirates recently added 43 A380s and 28 Boeing 777 to what is now an extensive cabin retrofit program lifting the total to be done to 191.

The AirlineRatings.com’s Airline Excellence Awards are judged by five editors with over 100 years of industry experience.

The ratings include safety and government audits, with 12 key criteria that include: fleet age, passenger reviews, profitability, safety rating, product rating, innovation and forward fleet orders.