In the annual global survey conducted by respected London-based aviation consultants Skytrax, almost 18 million travelers polled worldwide chose AirAsia as the World’s Best Low Cost Airline for the second consecutive year. AirAsia came out tops in the independent survey that measures airlines’ product and service standards.
AirAsia Chairman Dato’ Abdul Aziz Abu Bakar accepted the award on behalf of the airline at the ceremony in Hamburg, Germany, Thursday. In the same ceremony, AirAsia was also named Best Low Cost Airline Asia.
Dato’ Sri Dr Tony Fernandes, AirAsia Group CEO, said, “We are proud to be recognised as the world’s best for a second consecutive year. The Skytrax award is very special to us because it is voted on by passengers. It reaffirms once again that we are the People’s Champion.”
“The award is public and global recognition for the efforts of my colleagues, the AirAsia Allstars. They are the foundation of AirAsia’s success. The dedication, commitment, creativity and hard work they display every day, day in and day out, enable AirAsia not just to compete but also succeed on the global stage. And we’re just over eight years old!” Fernandes added.
AirAsia’s superstar status rides on the wings of its consumer-friendly products and services, including low fares, a modern fleet, an extensive network and great flight frequencies, convenient booking and payment channels, and choose-your-own features for meals, seats and baggage allowances.
The airline is known for its innovations, popularizing technology-backed travel services such as web bookings; web, mobile and kiosk check-in services; and the use of real-time interactive platforms such as YouTube, blog, Facebook and Twitter in communicating with guests.
AirAsia’s operations are anchored in its mission to democratise travel, encapsulated in its tagline Now everyone can fly. It has ferried more than 92 million guests to date. AirAsia has also established itself as the Truly Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) airline, with its unmatched connectivity in the region and its “sky bridges” – routes – that link the capitals and communities of Southeast Asia to each other and beyond.
Since its launch as a Low-Cost Carrier in late 2001, AirAsia has grown from 250 employees, two aircraft and one destination to an Asean-wide Group with almost 7,500 employees, 92 aircraft and more than 65 destinations. AirAsia has been operationally profitable from day one of its launch as a low-cost carrier. Together with its low-cost, long-haul affiliate AirAsia X, the airline now links three continents – Asia, Australia and Europe.
