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Qatar Airways returns to top of Skytrax best airline list after dropping last year’s title to Singapore Airlines

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A Qatar Airways Boeing 777-300ER lands at Frankfurt Airport on a flight from Doha. Qatar Airways won its fifth Airline of the Year award since 2011 at the Skytrax Awards held this week at the Paris Air Show.

            Qatar Airways has been named the world’s best airline by Skytrax at the Paris Air Show this week.

            It is the fifth time the Qatar carrier has topped the list since the awards started in 2001. This is the fifth win in nine years for Qatar.

            The Middle Eastern carrier took the title from Singapore Airlines which dropped to second in the Top 10 list of the world’s best airlines. In the 19-year history of the awards, Singapore has only failed to make the Top 3 twice.

            Qatar flies to more than 140 destinations around the world and boasts the industry-leading Q-Suite business class product.

            From the Top 10, only two non-Asian carriers, Qantas Airways and Lufthansa, made the list.

Although Singapore Airlines lost out top spot as airline of the year, its cabin crew was voted best in the world for a second year while its home airport, Changi was named best airport for the 7th year in a row.

            Rounding out the Top 10 were ANA (Japan, No. 3), Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong, No. 4), Emirates (UAE, No. 5), EVA (Taiwan, No. 6), Hainan Airlines (China, No. 7), Qantas (Australia, No. 8), Lufthansa (Germany No. 9), and Thai Airways (Thailand, No. 10).

            North American carriers continue to take a beating in the list with the highest ranked carrier being Air Canada at No. 31. The top U.S.-based airline is Jet Blue at No. 40.

            Singapore Airlines’ home base, Changi International Airport, was voted world’s best airport for a staggering seventh year in a row. Changi has dominated the award, winning 10 times in the award’s 21-year history.

            In other awards, it was an Asian clean sweep for best cabin crew with Singapore Airlines winning the award again. Rounding out the top 10 were: Garuda (Indonesia, No. 2), ANA (No. 3), Thai Airways (No. 4), EVA (No. 5), Cathay (No. 6), Hainan (No. 7), JAL (Japan, No. 8), Qatar (No. 9), and China Airlines (Taiwan, No. 10).

            Austrian Airlines was the top rated non-Asian carrier for the cabin crew at No. 12 and no North American carriers rated in the Top 20.