Bangkok Airways wins prestigious title

Bangkok Airways has reclaimed the title of Best Regional Airline in the World. The award came at the 2014 Skytrax World Airline Awards, held at the Farnborough International Airshow in the United Kingdom.

Along with the world title, Bangkok Airways also picked up the best regional airline in Asia award, defeating arch-rival Dragonair, of Hong Kong.

The title is awarded after around 18.8 million passengers from around 100 nations take part in a massive airline passenger satisfaction survey. The Skytrax World Airline Rating system was established in 1999 and are recognized as a global benchmark.

Bangkok Airways had previously been awarded the best regional airline title six times between 2004 and 2011 and had been in the top five for best regional airline in the world on numerous occasions.

Bangkok Airways management had made a concerted effort to reclaim the airlines’ high ranking, having introduced a ‘Service with Passion’ campaign at the beginning of the year.

The 46-year-old airline had also revamped its products and services for international travellers who currently constitute almost 70 percent of Bangkok Airways’ clientele.

Bangkok Airways currently operates scheduled services within Thailand as well as to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, India, and the Maldives. As of February this year it operates a fleet of 27 aircraft.

Other winners in the Skytrax regional airline awards were Aegean Airlines, SilkAir, Porter Airlines, Copa Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Tianjin Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and Shenzhen Airlines.

Thai Airways International once again was out of the top 10 worlds’ best in the latest Skytrax survey. The national carrier had been amongst the top 10 for some years but has now dropped to 14th place.

Nonetheless, although it no longer rates as a five-star airline, Thai Airways International still ranks as a four-star carrier with its long-haul First Class ranking at 4.5 stars. Both its long-haul and short-haul business and economy classes are ranked with four stars. By way of comparison, Skytrax also rates British Airways as a four-star airline. There are another 33 airlines also given a four-star rating with seven others currently holding the prestigious five-star ranking.

The winner of the worlds’ best airline went to Cathay Pacific which ousted Emirates for the top ranking. Cathay Pacific had previously been ranked number one in 2009.

Behind Cathay Pacific was Qatar Airways with Singapore Airlines in third place. Then came Emirates, Turkish Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Garuda Indonesia, Asiana Airlines, Etihad Airways, and Lufthansa.