Qantas’ poor showing in Skytrax world’s best airline awards

The flying kangaroo suffered the biggest tumble in the world airline rankings - its worst in 20 years - and is among Australia’s 20 most distrusted companies. See how it has fallen.

Qantas has nosedived from fifth-best airline in the world to 17th in the annual Skytrax awards, its lowest ranking in 20 years.

Singapore Airlines took the top spot, leapfrogging Qatar Airways, while Fiji Airways was named the best carrier for the Australia-Pacific region, relegating Qantas to second.

Qatar Airways claimed the best business class for its plush QSuites, Singapore Airlines won best first class and Eva Air best premium economy cabin.

Best economy class cabin went to Japan Airlines, ahead of Qatar Airways, followed by Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Virgin Atlantic.

Qatar Airways’ QSuite has again won best business class in the sky.

Qantas managed 13th in the best business class category, sixth for its premium economy product, 11th for first class and 13th for economy class.

In the major category of world’s best airlines, Qantas suffered one of the biggest falls – down 12 places, while British Airways slumped seven places from 11th to 18th.

Big movers in the other direction included Cathay Pacific up from 16th to 8th, Taiwan’s Eva Air, which jumped nine places to 9th and Fiji Airways, up to 15th from 36th.

The flying kangaroo’s poor showing overall was the worst in the last 20-years of Skytrax awards, with Qantas rated the second best airline in the world in 2005 and 2006, before slumping to 15th in 2012 and 2017.

The Skytrax awards were determined by thousands of passenger satisfaction surveys over the period from September 2022 to May 2023.

More than 100 nationalities took part in the survey and online entries at worldairlinesurvey.com were screened to identify IP information, with duplicate entries deleted.

Qantas’ result reflected a difficult period for the airline, with labour shortages and enormous demand for travel combining for a miserable stretch in mid-2022.

Despite returning to pre-Covid performance levels this year, passengers continued to face high fares and difficulty using travel credits earned during the pandemic.

Roy Morgan research for the March quarter revealed Qantas was now among Australia’s 20 most distrusted companies, along with low fares partner Jetstar.

Roy Morgan CEO Michelle Levine said trust and distrust had “a material impact on a brand going way beyond comms and on to balance sheets”.

“When customers trust a brand they continue buying its products or services, they recommend it to others and they remain loyal so trust is the underpinning foundation of brand reputation,” Ms Levine said.

“Distrust can have a toxic and destructive impact on a brand’s reputation and a material impact on its financial strength.”

Qantas’ balance sheet remained in robust health with the airline group expecting a record full year profit of close to $2.5bn, in what will be the final result delivered by CEO Alan Joyce.

He has announced his intention to retire by the end of the year, with chief financial officer Vanessa Hudson named as his successor.

On Wednesday a Qantas spokeswoman said the timing of the survey was such it took in a period when the airline wasn’t back to its best.

“A lot has changed since and if you ran this survey today, the results would be very different,” said the spokeswoman.

“We’ve worked hard to improve and the feedback from customers shows we are.”

Rival Virgin Australia was ranked 46th overall in the Skytrax awards, down from 43rd in 2022, and fourth in the Australia-Pacific category.

Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong said being named the best airline in the world was a “testament to the indomitable spirit of our people”.

“Our people worked tirelessly and made many sacrifices to ensure that Singapore Airlines was ready for the recovery in air travel,” said Mr Goh.

Business class cabin of an Airbus SE A350 aircraft, operated by Singapore Airlines. Picture: Getty Images

“That has allowed us to emerge stronger and fitter from the pandemic as a leading international airline.”

Fiji Airways was thrilled with its win the Australia-Pacific category, after finishing third last year.

CEO and managing director Andre Viljoen said it was a “big win for a small airline in a highly competitive region for commercial aviation”.

“We may not have as many resources as larger airlines, but we have the Fijian spirit of hospitality and care,” said Mr Viljoen.

“As the national airline of Fiji, we embrace and champion these values in everything we do, and this sets us apart as an airline.”

Fiji Airways was named best airline in the Australia-Pacific region.

Qatar Airways was happy with its victories in several categories, despite missing out on the major award after four years on top.

As well as best Middle Eastern airline and best business class, Qatar was awarded the best business class lounge, and best business lounge dining.

CEO Akbar Al Baker said the awards recognised the “collective endeavour in the airline to deliver an unsurpassed customer experience”.

Most family friendly airline went to Air Canada, Garuda Indonesia won best cabin crew and AirAsia maintained its long run as the world’s best low-cost carrier.

CEO Tony Fernandes said receiving an award of excellence for 14 consecutive years was a “remarkable achievement”.

Originally published as Qantas’ poor showing in Skytrax world’s best airline awards