Skytrax has released its 2026 World Airline Awards, and Singapore Airlines has reclaimed the top spot from nine-time winner Qatar Airways.
Only one North American airline in the Top 20, and that's Air Canada. I can feel a disturbance in the Force.
Skytrax is a joke. And these rankings are a joke.
Singapore has been chipping away at its excellence. Last trip I had with them they didn't provide an amenity kit nor did they provide pajamas. The pre-ordered food was much less in quantity and quality then it used to be, the quality of wine and spirits was very ordinary. Their business class lounge would struggle to even get in the Top 10 business class lounges in the world. But somehow it's the best airline in the world.
@ BBT -- Respectfully, I'm not sure how that would be chipping away at their excellence? Back in the day, the airline didn't have amenity kits at all, and the carrier hasn't historically had pajamas (though is expected to add them soon). So I understand those are areas where you feel the airline may have fell short, but that has been the status quo at the airline for a long time.
To play Devil's advocate, not having Allegris in any of their planes is (technically) consistent 😉
This is some poor reporting from you, didn't you just do an article last month on a related topic, and no reference or expounding on it? It seems highly correlated that the supposed "beef" between QR and Skytrax is linked to them being dethroned, no?
"Qatar Airways & Skytrax Have Beef: “World’s Best Airline” No More?"
@ yoloswag420 -- I'm not sure how that's poor reporting? Yes, I theorized the airline would lose its ranking of being number one in the world. I didn't feel the need to say "see, I was right," since I'm not sure what that accomplishes?
Ryanair one spot ahead of American is somewhat funny... I guess Ben would recommend switching CEOs? 😉
It's interesting to see how many well-known airlines managed to even get behind Air India. And some people might say that TUI Airways would get a higher ranking by ditching Go2Sky.
American got #4 most improved airline for 2026! Right behind EgyptAir, Air India and Royal Jordanian. I can only assume that's the next headline on this site - would make for an amusing comments section at least.
Wonder what Qatar got for their hissy fit a few weeks ago. You wouldn't know anything was wrong based on the Qatar press release. Maybe they pulled strings so that Oneworld could win best alliance? Star Alliance had won that one for the last 5 years or so?
Who knows. Palace intrigue that has the importance of, well, absolutely nothing.
I feel that these awards just aren’t useful. It’s only really meant for publicity so that people can be incentivized to choose one airline over another. I feel greater value comes from reviewers and also YouTubers. Simply Aviation is personally my favorite YouTuber, tho I also enjoy watching Jeb Brooks, probably more for entertainment purposes than being scientific but he’s honest and humble when he does review things which I like a lot.
Personally, I wasn’t impressed with SQ either. While I didn’t try their premium cabins (yet), in Economy it just felt like they did their textbook service and then went hiding into the galley. Akin to a domestic AA flight.
My contender for best airline across all cabins would be EY, EK, or QR. Haven’t flown JL, JX, or CX to compare them.
Cathay Pacific: world's most elusive award seat
Can't believe JAL is below Hainan :/
Hahaha your 2 favs JAL and AF are way down on the list
Is this the reason why QR decided to cut ties with Skytrax as was recently reported or is there more?
Being 2nd to Singapore Airlines is really nothing to shy from, is it?
Tbh, last time I flew in Q Suites all you can eat at any time was a thing of the past. While that will reduce food waste significantly it also results in a degraded on board experience.