Air New Zealand crowned Airline of the Year

Air New Zealand has been named 2020 Airline of the Year by AirlineRatings.com.

This is the sixth time the airline has received the top honour in AirlineRatings.com’s Airline Excellence Awards.

AirlineRatings.com’s panel of seven judges, who have more than 200 years of aviation experience between them, assess airlines on 12 key criteria for the awards each year. This includes customer reviews, product offerings, safety, fleet age, profitability and environmental leadership.

The judges come from the United States, France, United Kingdom and Australia.

AirlineRatings.com editor-in-chief Geoffrey Thomas says Air New Zealand remains on top in virtually every category, which is an extraordinary achievement.

“Air New Zealand is a clear industry leader which is remarkable when it is up against much larger global carriers. The airline is committed to excellence in all areas of its business with its employees across the globe consistently delivering exceptional customer service.”

Air New Zealand Acting Chief Executive Jeff McDowall says the airline is honoured to take out AirlineRatings.com’s top award for a record sixth time.

“Our 12,500 employees both on the ground and in the air are committed to offering the best travel experience on the 17 million customer journeys we facilitate every year, so it’s fantastic to have these efforts recognised by such an esteemed global judging panel. We’d also like to thank our customers for their ongoing loyalty to Air New Zealand.

“While we are extremely proud to receive this award, 2020 marks Air New Zealand’s 80th year and we are focused on delivering some great new initiatives, as well as launching our non-stop Auckland-New York service in late October.”

In addition to being named Airline of the Year, Air New Zealand has also won the AirlineRatings.com award for Best Premium Economy for the sixth time in a row.

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