Why Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines ranked  2023 world’s top carriers

What makes the ‘best’ airline the ‘best’ is debatable. What does ‘best’ mean? Does it refer to the airlines that passengers report enjoying the most? Or does it refer to the airline with the best safety record and practices? Or perhaps some other criteria? Skytrax provides the most popular international airline ranking, but the organisation is not the only airline-ranking player in town. Airlinerating.com offers its own ranking of international airlines with noticeable differences from Skytrax, writes Simple Flying.

In 2023, Singapore Airlines won Skytrax’s “World’s Best Airline” award, and Air New Zealand won Airlineratings.com’s “Airline of the Year.” Singapore Airlines is famous for offering some of the best first class experiences with its luxurious A380 suites, while Air New Zealand frequently flies under the proverbial radar.

Skytrax: A ranking from customer reviews

Skytrax is a London-based consultancy that reviews the world’s airports and airlines. In recent years, Qatar, Singapore Airlines, and All Nippon Airlines have dominated the rankings. Since 2001, the number one spot has been awarded to Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Qatar, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, and Asiana Airlines.

Top five airlines for 2023:

• Singapore Airlines

• Qatar Airlines

• All Nippon Airways

• Emirates

• Japan Airlines

Skytrax gathers information for commercial airlines and uses surveys collected from international travellers to rate airports, cabin staff, airlines, airport lounges, and other features related to flying. Perhaps the two most well-known Skytrax awards are the annual World Airline Awards and the World Airport Awards.

Skytrax’s ranking is created through surveys from many customers who vote for the award-winning airlines. Intriguingly, while Air New Zealand came out on top of Airlineratings’s list, it only took the 19th spot on Skytrax (up from 30th in 2022).

Singapore Airlines: 2023’s World’s Best Airline

Singapore Airlines has built up a superb reputation as one of aviation’s most pioneering, innovative, luxurious, and high-service airlines. Singapore Airlines was the first airline to fly the Airbus A380 Super-jumbo in 2007 and today operates the longest non-stop service in the world (from Singapore to JFK, New York).

• Five-time winner: World’s Best Airline

Not only does Singapore Airlines operate some of the most modern aircraft, but it also focuses on providing the highest quality of service to its customers. Singapore Airlines is, of course, well-known for its lavish A380 Suites, but the carrier ensures its excellent service is applied to all customers in all classes of travel.

“Singapore Airlines has been voted the World’s Best Airline at the 2023 World Airline Awards, the fifth time that the airline has scooped the Airline of the Year title in the 23 year history of the awards.” – Skytrax

Anyone flying with Singapore Airlines can expect the best in-air service the industry has to offer, from fantastic cabin staff service to state-of-the-art entertainment to spacious cabins to delicious food.

Furthermore, Singapore Airlines’ hub – Changi Airport – helps garner the airline’s image. Changi Airport is one of the world’s most modern and acclaimed airports, winning Skytrax’s World’s Best Airport in 2023.

Airlineratings.com 

A ranking based on safety & more

Airlineratings.com considers a very different set of data to create the list for the top-ranked airlines and airline products (e.g., the aircraft themselves). They claim to be “The world’s best one-stop airline safety and product rating review website.”

Airlineratings.com provides safety ratings for over 435 airlines worldwide – and every airline has a safety rating breakdown. They use a one to seven-star ranking system (with seven being the highest). In addition to airlines, Airlineratings.com provides valuable information for over 30 types of aircraft, from widebody aircraft like the Boeing 787 and the A380 to smaller jets. Other, more quirky, questions they ask and answer include questions like:

• “What are all those noises after takeoff and before landing?”
• “Why do you have to put the window shades up for landing and takeoff?”
• “How strong is a wing?”
• “Why is it so costly to fly short distances?”

They may include some data that overlaps with Skytrax as they also consider passenger reviews and reviews written by experienced aviation editors. Overall, Airlineratings.com’s list is not so much a rival to Skytrax’s list but rather a compliment to it.

Air New Zealand: 2023’s airline of the year

New Zealand’s national carrier, Air New Zealand, was named the “Airline of the Year” for 2023’s Airline Excellence Award, with the runners-up being Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways, Korean Air, and Singapore Airlines.

The Airline Excellence Award is an accolade that the small airline has received seven times since 2013. Air New Zealand is being honoured for its innovations like the SkyNest economy beds, its operational safety, the motivation of its staff, and its environmental leadership.

Other criteria included fleet age, passenger reviews, investment ratings, and other considerations. On the airline safety rating page, Air New Zealand received seven stars (including full stars for the sub-categories Fatality Free, Incident Free, and Audit).

• Average Fleet Age: 6.8 years (2022)

Air New Zealand topped the airlineratings.com’s list of the world’s safest airlines in 2022. Not only does Air New Zealand have an exemplary safety record, but it also has a very young fleet – its aircraft have an average age of just 6.8 years in 2022. The assessment looked at crashes over the last five years, severe incidents in the previous two years, and data from audits and other relevant information.

Air New Zealand’s innovation extends into safety improvements – notably the Future Air Navigation System, which provides real-time monitoring of the engines across the fleet and other safety-related enhancements. 

Air New Zealand also won Best Economy Class, Singapore Airlines was named Best First Class, and Qatar was awarded Best Business Class. North American airlines to make the 2023 Top 25 premium airline list were Delta Air Lines, Air Canada, Hawaiian, Alaska Airlines, and United Airlines.