OREANDA-NEWS. July 21, 2014. Cathay Pacific Airways has once again been named “World’s Best Airline” in the annual Skytrax World Airline Awards.

This is the fourth time Cathay Pacific has received the World’s Best Airline honour - 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 favourite travel experiences between August 2013 and May 2014. Skytrax is acknowledged as running one of the most comprehensive customer satisfaction surveys in the airline industry. 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.

Cathay Pacific 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 today. Commenting on the award, Mr Chu said that he was “extremely proud, for both Cathay Pacific and Hong Kong” to receive this honour.

“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!” Mr Chu said.

“I would like to thank all my Cathay Pacific colleagues who have worked tirelessly to ensure we offer world-beating 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.”

Cathay Pacific has been making significant investments to improve its customer offering and cement its position as one of the world’s most highly regarded premium international carriers. Investments so far include:

- One of the world’s most modern wide-body fleets, with some 90 new aircraft currently on order at an aggregate list price of about HKD220 billion.

- The development of an extensive 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 HKD 4.9 billion, along with a HKD 880 million investment in upgraded lounges across its international network.

- Building a winning team with a workforce of some 21,000 staff worldwide. The airline will recruit 2,200 more people in 2014.

Mr Chu emphasised that Cathay Pacific will continue investing for the future and working to ensure that passengers can enjoy a more comfortable and convenient travel experience.  The airline 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 brand-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.

“The airline industry is becoming more competitive by the day and the only way to prosper is to continue to offer the best to your customers at every level,” Mr Chu said. “The Skytrax World’s Best Airline award demonstrates that we have been doing the right things, but we will not rest on our laurels. We will continue working to provide a superior travel experience that will make the people of Hong Kong proud.”

In the same awards, oneworld was named the World’s Best Airline Alliance for the second year running, confirming its position as the most highly prized global airline alliance. Cathay Pacific is a founder member of oneworld.