The world’s best airlines have been revealed for 2021

After a year of cancellations, refund requests and the grounding of entire fleets, AirlineRatings.com has announced the world’s best airlines.

Qatar Airways took out the top spot, while Air New Zealand fell to second.

Air New Zealand has topped the list in previous years. Singapore Airlines came in third, after finishing first in 2019.

Geoffrey Thomas is the editor-in-chief at AirlineRatings.com, who says Qatar Airways’ response to the pandemic sealed the deal for the top spot.

“Qatar Airways has always featured highly in our rankings, winning various awards such as Best Business Class but it was the airline’s commitment to keeping its route network largely open that attracted the judges’ praise and votes.”

Mr. Thomas says the airline’s repatriation flights, and ongoing safety commitment during the pandemic secured the airline its top ranking.

Cathay Pacific, Virgin Atlantic, United Airlines, EVA Air and British Airways round out the top 10.

The judges focus on a range of key factors. But the financial impacts of Covid-19 on the industry led to experts dropping the profitability category.

“We had to drop that this year because virtually all airlines are losing money,” Mr. Thomas says.

The rankings are usually announced in November. But Covid-19 forced the aviation safety and rating agency to postpone the rankings.

Mr Thomas says the prolonged world’s best airlines rankings allowed his company to “see how the industry would handle the pandemic over a longer period of time before making selections”.