Air New Zealand has won Air Transport World's prestigious Airline of the Year award for the second time in three years.
It is the first time in the awards' nearly-40-year history that an airline has taken the top accolade twice in three years. Air New Zealand has won more ATW awards than any other airline in the past decade.
The ATW judges lauded Air New Zealand's industry-leading innovation and motivation of its staff, which had resulted in exceptional performance across the airline in market position, customer service, fiscal management and operational safety.
They described Air New Zealand as an industry trendsetter in a number of areas including product innovation and social media.
Judges were also impressed with the airline's environmental initiatives including its commitment to operating a very young and highly fuel-efficient fleet.
The national carrier was also commended for the way in which it had dealt with several natural disasters including the Christchurch earthquakes, and had stepped up to assist the communities that were affected.
Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe, who will travel to Singapore next month to collect the award, said today's announcement came as a huge thrill.
"Winning ATW Airline of the Year in 2010 was in my view one of the greatest accolades that had ever been bestowed on Air New Zealand - in our industry it's equivalent to winning an Oscar. To pick up the award again this year is simply outstanding."
The awards ceremony, which will be held in Singapore on February 13, will be attended by hundreds of aviation leaders from around the world.
"For Air New Zealand to again be recognised as the number one airline in competition with the world's biggest and best airlines is testament to the continued hard work and passion of our 11,500 staff throughout the world," says Mr Fyfe.
Tourism Industry Association New Zealand chief executive Tim Cossar says the award is great for the country's tourism industry.
"Our national carrier is not the biggest airline in the world, but it is amongst the very best. It is great that New Zealand's airline can be such a leader and trendsetter on a world scale," Mr Cossar says.
"It is positive for the wider industry to have such a high profile Kiwi tourism business acclaimed internationally."
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22 Comments
What a surprise ! the judges must have been on " Plonk" when they judged it the best.. I choose not to fly air new zealand at any time. Just a dungunda airline.
ReplyI have had nothing but bad experiences with air nz, and time I flew to LA with them I had stone cold "pasta" and some nuts for dinner, and went twelve hours with two strangers practically in my lap, and to top it off the tv console didn't work., the hosties were also very unhelpful and not very friendly. I changed to quantas on the return trip, and granted the seats were still cramped, but there was still more room in between seats,I had a passable panini that was actually warm, plus my TV console worked! The Aussie hosties were also far nicer, no more air nz for me!
ReplyWell deserved. Flew Singapore airlines late last year. Seats were hard, too close together and staff indifferent. cost of flight more expensive than Air NZ to Vancouver! Flew Jetstar. Plan dealyed then delayed then delayed, should have stayed home. Flew United planes dirty staff unfriendly, flew Lufthansa - who cares. Travel is no longer a luxury experience but a bus ride to your destination. If you want pampering go Business class and pay for it.
ReplyShould be named thief of the century.
ReplyHow on earth did they win that?? Flew to LA and back and never again will I fly with them.They were rude and argue among themselves.Service and food was really poor and charged for excess baggage when plane was half empty!! They have really gone downhill in the past 5 years!!
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