Cathay Pacific bags ‘World’s Best Airline’ award for the 4th time
Cathay Pacific Airways (CX) has been named “World’s Best Airline” in the annual Skytrax World Airline Awards.
This is the fourth time CX has received this award, which, according to the company, is the only airline to achieve such a feat. The carrier also took the title in 2003, 2005 and 2009.
The latest Skytrax awards are based on a survey of 18.85 million airline passengers from around the world who voted for their favorite travel experiences between August 2013 and May 2014. Airline passengers from more than 160 countries participated in the latest survey, which covered 245 airlines worldwide. The survey measures standards across 41 key performance indicators of airline products and services.
CX chief executive Ivan Chu collected the award on behalf of the airline at a ceremony staged by Skytrax at the Farnborough International Air Show in the UK on July 15. Commenting on the award, Chu said that he was “extremely proud, for both Cathay Pacific and Hong Kong.”
“As the home airline of Hong Kong, we take great pride in putting the city on the international stage by winning this prestigious award once again. The World’s Best Airline award is particularly important to us because it was decided by the votes of close to 19 million travellers from around the world. Thank you to everyone who voted for us!” Chu said.
Eyes ahead
“I would like to thank all my Cathay Pacific colleagues who have worked tirelessly to ensure we offer worldbeating products and services to our customers. We have been the home airline of Hong Kong for close to 70 years and we are deeply committed to building our city into one of the world’s great aviation hubs. We do this through our huge investment in new aircraft, our world-beating seats, lounges and other products, our renowned Service Straight from the Heart and an ever-expanding network of destinations.”
The company adds that it has been making investments to improve its customer offering. They include:
One of the world’s modern wide-body fleets, with some 90 new aircraft currently on order at an aggregate list price of about HK$220 billion.
The development of a worldwide network offering connections to almost 190 destinations in 46 countries and territories.
Refreshed cabins across the airline’s entire fleet over the last four years, representing an investment of some HK$4.9 billion, along with a HK$880 million investment in upgraded lounges across its international network.
A team with a workforce of some 21,000 staff worldwide. The airline will recruit 2,200 more people in 2014.
Chu emphasised that the airline will continue investing for the future and working to ensure that passengers can enjoy a more comfortable and convenient travel experience. It will continue to improve its lounges within its international network, including the reopening of The Pier First Class Lounge in 2015 and Business Class Lounge in 2016 with a new design. The next generation of seats and inflight entertainment products will be introduced with the arrival of the A350 aircraft in early 2016. Network development will also remain a key focus for the airline, with flights to Manchester launching in December this year and a new service to Zurich beginning in March 2015.
In the same awards, oneworld was named the World’s Best Airline Alliance for the second year running. CX is a founder member of oneworld.