KUALA LUMPUR (July 13): AirAsia said it has been named the World’s Best Low-Cost Airline and Asia’s Best Low-Cost Airline for the eighth year running at the 2016 Skytrax World Airline Awards, held at the Farnborough International Airshow in England.
AirAsia Group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and AirAsia Bhd CEO Aireen Omar were present to receive the awards, along with CEOs from AirAsia Group affiliates. AirAsia also flew in an Airbus A320 with special Skytrax livery to commemorate its eighth straight win in the World’s Best Low-Cost Airline category.
“It’s incredible for me that we won it eighth time in a row. No airlines in the world has ever won it eight times,” Fernandes said in a video, in response to the awards.
In a Facebook post, he said, “When we started the airline, I never would've dreamt [that] we would win 8 years out of 14 years. There's many things we still need to improve on, like customer service, we will get there.”
“Thank you to our guests and our 17000 Allstars for making it happen. Great job guys. Time of our lives,” he wrote.
Dubbed the “Oscars of the Aviation Industry”, the Skytrax Awards are the global benchmark of airline excellence with over 19 million customer surveys completed worldwide by more than 104 nationalities, measuring standards across 41 key performance indicators of an airline’s frontline products and services.
AirAsia is Asia’s largest low-cost carrier by passengers carried and by jet fleet. It comprises short-haul affiliates AirAsia Bhd (airline code AK), Indonesia AirAsia (QZ), Thai AirAsia (FD), Philippines AirAsia (Z2) and AirAsia India (I5), and long-haul affiliates AirAsia X (D7), Thai AirAsia X (XJ) and Indonesia AirAsia X (XT).
AirAsia operates one of the youngest fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft in the world, with an average age of 3 years across all affiliates, with firm orders for over 300 Airbus A320neo deliveries, up through 2028.
In addition to its modern fleet, AirAsia boasts an extensive route network to over 100 destinations in Asia Pacific, including some 60 unique routes in the Asean region, and unmatched flight frequencies.