Philippine Airlines has once again ranked near the bottom of the annual Global Airline Rankings at the World Airline Awards. Out of 100 carriers worldwide, Philippine Airlines achieved a dismal 93rd place at the 2014 Awards, which represents a drop from the 90th place that the carrier achieved the previous year.
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| Copyright Photo: Angelo Agcamaran/PPSG |
The 2014 World Airline Awards were held this year at the historic Wind
Tunnels in Farnborough, England during the recently held Farnborough Air
Show. The results are determined based on an annual survey that
attracts responses from more than 18 million passengers around the
world.
For 2014, the World Airline Customer Survey obtained responses from
18.85 million business and leisure travellers representing more than 105
nationalities across all cabin types including First Class, Business
Class, Premium Economy, and Economy. The survey was conducted between
August 2013 and May 2014.
Respondents typically evaluate more than 245 global airlines from low
cost carriers to major international airlines based on their performance
in the areas of check-in, boarding, seat comfort, cabin cleanliness,
food, beverage, in-flight entertainment, and staff service.
At the 2014 awards, Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific ranked first over all
of the world's international airlines. Qatar Airways ranked second,
while Singapore Airlines ranked in third place this year. Cathay Pacific
is the only carrier in the world to have achieved first place four
times. The airline grabbed the top spot in 2003, 2005, 2009, and 2014.
According to Skytrax Chief Executive Officer, Edward Plaisted, Cathay
Pacific was the best performer across all types of travel. "Some
airlines were very good in economy, others in luxury, but Cathay Pacific
Airways was top, or near the top, in all categories."
For Cathay Pacific CEO Ivan Chu, the achievement of first place is
another vote of confidence in the airline from the world's air
travellers. "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," said Chu. "Thank you to everyone who
voted for us."
If Philippine Airlines intends to rise as one of the world's prominent
global airlines reflecting a world-class standard, it will need to do a
much better job of convincing passengers that it is worthy of such a
title. Since being taken over by San Miguel Corporation, Philippine
Airlines has made a number of changes that has drawn a mixture of both
praise and criticism.
In spite of making some improvements and investing in new aircraft,
passengers and industry observers continue to question some of the
airline's decisions in terms of ambitious routes, in-flight entertainment, business class standards, service downgrades, and brand identity.
In the case of in-flight entertainment, Philippine Airlines has taken a
step to the left, while other carriers have taken a step to the right.
PAL recently launched its new aircraft cabin design aboard its brand new fleet of A330-300HGW
aircraft. However, the airline did not install a single television
screen for in-flight entertainment in business or economy class.
Instead, the airline opted to use a wireless entertainment system that
streams media content to the personal devices of passengers. For those
in economy class that do not bring their own personal device, an iPad
rental is available for a fee.
Philippine Airlines management believe that they are on the right path
to meet a new trend in the industry. However, there is little evidence
to suggest that this is the true direction of the airline industry with
carriers such as Cathay Pacific continuing to make further investments
in its on-board cabin product and in-flight entertainment systems. Most
recently, Cathay Pacific enhanced its in-flight entertainment when it
revealed its new Premium Economy class, which features a 10.6" touch screen personal television and the ability to stream content from your own personal device including music and videos.
Based on the results of the most recent World Airline Customer Survey,
one would be led to believe that Cathay Pacific is the carrier on the
right track, making the right moves that passengers want. With its
investments in in-flight entertainment and improvements to the rest of
its on-board product, Cathay Pacific managed to rise from 6th place in
2013 to 1st place in 2014, a ranking that it has proudly held for three
other years.
Meanwhile, Philippine Airlines has dropped a further three slots from
its ranking in 2013 of 90th place to an embarrassing 93rd place out of
100 carriers. One could easily suggest that in spite of the efforts of
San Miguel Corporation, passengers are still not satisfied with what
they are receiving from the nation's flag carrier.
Even Garuda Indonesia, a carrier that has faced similar challenges as
Philippine Airlines having also been on the European blacklist for
airlines with significant safety concerns, managed to claw back and
achieve 7th place at this year's airline awards. Garuda Indonesia also
took home the top place for the World's Best Cabin Crew. Philippine Airlines did not even place in the top 10 in that category on a global basis or even within Asia.
However, the news was not all dismal for Philippine carriers. AirAsia
Group, headed by Tony Fernandes, once again claimed the title of the
World's Best Low-Cost Airline for the sixth consecutive year. AirAsia is
represented in the Philippines by its local affiliates, AirAsia Zest
and AirAsia Philippines.
"It all started with a dream 12 years ago. From two aging aircraft and
just six routes back in 2002, we have grown to operate a proud fleet of
over 160 aircraft, 95 destinations, and carried over 250 million
guests," said Fernandes. "It is a great honour to be acknowledged as the
World's Best Low Cost Airline for six consecutive years and for that, I
thank our guests, whose valuable criticisms and feedback made us an
outstanding airline today. In aviation, the one thing that remains
constant is change and innovation."
The annual Skytrax awards are conducted on a non-profit basis with rigorous monitoring during the survey process to ensure that there is no external influence or airline involvement. " The reputation of these awards relies on our ability to maintain transparency across the survey and awards format," said Edward Plaisted, CEO of Skytrax. "We know that some award-winning airlines are not the favourite of everyone, and we receive vocal feedback and complaints from a few users each year when results are published. However, we can do no more than remind them that award-winning airlines are decided by their fellow airline customers, and not by Skytrax."
The World Airline Awards has been held since 1999. Philippine travellers can write reviews of their flights with Philippine carriers and share their experience at Philippine Flight Network Airline Reviews.
World's Best Airline (2014)
- Cathay Pacific
- Qatar Airways
- Singapore Airlines
- Emirates
- Turkish Airlines
- ANA All Nippon Airways
- Garuda Indonesia
- Asiana Airlines
- Etihad Airways
- Lufthansa
- Cathay Pacific
- Singapore Airlines
- ANA All Nippon Airways
- Garuda Indonesia
- Asiana Airlines
- EVA Air
- Thai Airways International
- Malaysia Airlines
- Hainan Airlines
- Bangkok Airways
- AirAsia
- AirAsia X
- Indigo
- Jetstar Asia
- Scoot
- Peach
- Spicejet
- Tigerair Singapore
- Nok Air
- Skymark Airlines
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