Conde Nast Traveller Readers’ Awards 2009: Best airlines

Conde Nast Traveller has recently announced the results for the its Readers’ Travel Awards 2009 for the world’s best airlines for business travel and for long-haul leisure travel. Topping the list of best airlines for business travel was British Airways as Conde Nast Traveller readers rated it tops in terms of scheduling and for catering while Emirates was rated as having the best luggage handling facilities and Etihad for having the best service/staff. Oddly however, only two Asia (non-Middle East) based airline (Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines) made the top 10 airlines list and this may be more a reflection of the reader base of Conde Nast Traveller than any deficiencies in the quality of business travel on Asia based airlines.

1.	British Airways	89.82
2.	Etihad Airways	86.81
3.	Emirates	86.78
4.	85.70
5.	Virgin Atlantic	82.81
6.	Singapore Airlines	79.56
7.	BMI	76.02
8.	Lufthansa	74.64
9.	United Airlines	71.78
10.	Qatar Airways	71.05

Meanwhile, Conde Nast Traveller readers rated Virgin Atlantic as the best airline for long-haul leisure travel giving it a top score for lounge/flight facilities and for punctuality/efficiency. Qantas was rated as having the best in-flight entertainment, Air New Zealand for having the the best catering and Singapore Airlines for having the best service/staff. Again, the results are probably more a reflection of the reader base of Conde Nast Traveller but nevertheless and should your travel plans be global, the survey results are well worth noting.

1.	Virgin Atlantic	90.01
2.	Air New Zealand	88.45
3.	Qantas	86.62
4.	British Airways	85.77
5.	Kingfisher Airlines	85.32
6.	Singapore Airlines	83.35
7.	Emirates	80.91
8.	Etihad Airways	78.33
9.	Thai Airways	76.27
10.	71.95