Qatar Airways named No.1 airline for 2024 at the 'Oscars of Aviation', BA moves up to 13th, Delta triumphs again in America - and Ryanair BEATS easyJet and Jet2 in the budget ranking

Qatar Airways has been voted the world's best airline at the 'Oscars of Aviation'.

The carrier triumphed over 350 airlines at the Skytrax World Airline Awards 2024, beating last year's winner, Singapore Airlines, into second place.

Emirates is ranked third, ANA All Nippon Airways fourth and Cathay Pacific comes fifth.

British Airways has two reasons to celebrate – the carrier moves up from 18th to 13th in the overall table and takes home the crown as the world's most family friendly airline, having come 10th in this category last year.

Delta Air Lines again reigns supreme as Best Airline in North America – though it fails to make the top 20 globally – and Fiji Airways secures the gong for Best Airline in Australia/Pacific. Ryanair, meanwhile, has shaken up the World's Best Low-Cost Airlines category, coming ninth, ahead of UK rivals easyJet in 10th and much-loved Jet2.com in 12th. The overall winner of the category is AirAsia.

Overall winner Qatar Airways also ranks top in the World's Best Business Class category and was voted cleanest airline in the Middle East and the carrier with the world's best business-class lounge, at Hamad International Airport.

Receiving the World's Best Airline accolade at the awards ceremony at Fairmont Windsor Park, near London Heathrow, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Officer, Engr. Badr Mohammed Al-Meer, said: 'This is a proud Qatar Airways moment and it is my honour to share this award with my hardworking colleagues. This award is testimony to our relentless dedication to providing unparalleled service and innovation. We look forward to more wins in the future.'

Edward Plaisted of Skytrax said: 'This is a remarkable achievement for Qatar Airways to win this World's Best Airline title for 2024, the eighth time they have triumphed.

'Qatar Airways achieved excellent results in many award categories, the highlights being recognition of their Business Class cabin as the World's Best Business Class, and their Al Mourjan Garden Lounge named the World's Best Business Class Airline Lounge.

'We congratulate Qatar Airways on this success, which should be a source of great pride and satisfaction for the airline management and staff.'

Second-place Singapore Airlines takes top honours in the World's Best Cabin Staff ranking and occupies the top spot on the podium in the prestigious World's Best First Class category.

Third-place Emirates wins World's Best Airline Inflight Entertainment and fifth-place Cathay takes the honours for World's Best Economy Class.

The rest of the top 10 in the overall ranking comprises Japan Airlines (sixth and World's Best Premium Economy Class), Turkish Airlines (seventh and Best Airline in Europe), Eva Air (eighth), Air France (ninth and World's Best First Class Catering) and Swiss International Air Lines (10th and Best First Class Airline Lounge for Zurich).

Expanding on BA's World's Most Family Friendly Airline win, Skytrax said: 'This award covers many aspects of the experience, including family seating policies, family check-in facilities, priority boarding, children's meals, children's amenities/toys/activity packs, child-specific onboard entertainment, child luggage and policies for carrycot/pushchairs, and the standards of service assistance from ground staff and cabin crew during the family travel experience.'

Allegiant Air receives the award as the Best Low-Cost Airline in North America for the first time and Ethiopian Airlines has won the Best Airline in Africa award for the sixth consecutive year.

Commenting on how the awards were decided, Skytrax said: 'The World Airline Awards are wholly independent and impartial, introduced in 1999 to provide a customer satisfaction study that is truly global. Travellers across the world vote in the largest airline passenger satisfaction survey to determine the award winners.

'Over 100 customer nationalities participated in the 2023/2024 survey, with 21.42million eligible entries counted in the results. Survey entries are screened to identify IP and user information, with all duplicate, suspect or ineligible entries deleted. More than 350 airlines are featured in the final Award results.'

For last year's results click here.