Qatar Airways Is No Longer The World's Best Airline

Published Sep 18, 2026, 11:45 AM EDT Louis is a military historian and the staff writer for History of War magazine, a leading military history monthly. He also has an interest in private and commercial aviation. Qatar Airways has been named the world's best airline nine times. It has won this prestigious Skytrax award in 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2024, and 2025. However, it was denied a third straight victory, with the award going to Singapore Airlines. Qatar Airways follows behind in second, with Cathay Pacific Airways in third place. Still, Qatar Airways has plenty to take heart from at this year's Skytrax awards. It performed well in several other categories, including the World's Best Onboard WiFi award, introduced this year to showcase carriers that give customers the best connectivity. Singapore Airlines Is Delighted Singapore Airlines is unsurprisingly very happy to win aviation's most democratic award, with 24.8 million travelers globally voting between September 2025 and August 2026. Skytrax representatives have said that the award highlights the quality of Singapore Airlines' product and service. Goh Choon Phong, Chief Executive Officer of Singapore Airlines, spoke about the carrier's accomplishment. “We are grateful to our customers for their trust and support, and we are committed to delivering an exceptional, world-class travel experience every time they fly with us. This award is a testament to the dedication and professionalism of our people, who continually strive to uphold SIA’s renowned standards for service and operational excellence.” Simple Flying has approached Qatar Airways for comment, but representatives could not be immediately reached. The Full Rankings Show Superb Results For Asian Carriers The results for this year's Skytrax awards are highly positive for Asian and Middle Eastern carriers, but make for somber reading for airlines in Europe, Africa, the Americas and Australasia. In the World's Best Airline top 10, all but two carriers are Asian, with European airlines taking the other two spots. These are Turkish Airlines in fifth place and Air France in seventh place. Ranking Airline 1 Singapore Airlines 2 Qatar Airways 3 Cathay Pacific Airways 4 All Nippon Airways (ANA) 5 Turkish Airlines 6 Emirates 7 Air France 8 Hainan Airlines 9 Japan Airlines (JAL) 10 Korean Air The results for the other awards are also excellent reading for premium Asian carriers. STARLUX Airlines won the cleanest airline award. Cathay Pacific won best cabin crew. Best business class unsurprisingly went to Qatar Airways, which continues to set the standard with Qsuite. Singapore Airlines won the best economy class. Its subsidiary Scoot also won best long-haul low-cost airline. It Wasn't A Bad Year For Qatar Airways The loss of the most important Skytrax award is far from a disaster for Qatar Airways for reasons that go beyond the fact that it achieved a second place finish. It won many of the other categories. These include World's Best Business Class Airline for the 13th time, World's Best Business Class Lounge (Al Mourjan Business Lounge The Garden), Best Airline in the Middle East, and World's Best Onboard WiFi. Qatar Airways won the inaugural award by providing Starlink connectivity with speeds up to 500 Mbps gate-to-gate. This product is available on the airline's Boeing 777, 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350 via its Oryx Comms WiFi network. Privilege Club members have guaranteed uninterrupted connectivity throughout their flight. The airline now has over 150 aircraft equipped with this capability. Qatar Airways lists many destinations with Starlink onboard. Examples in Europe include Barcelona, London, Prague, Rome, Istanbul, Stockholm, Budapest, and Paris. Hamad Al Khater, Qatar Airways Group CEO, told Skytrax that the year could have been disastrous amid new conflict in the Middle East. "Sixty thousand colleagues deliver the best experience in the world for our passengers every day, and they have done so through a particularly challenging year," he explained.