Skytrax (originally known as Inflight Research Services) is a United Kingdom–based consultancy which runs an

airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in wh ...

and

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

review and ranking site.

Services

Skytrax conducts research for commercial airlines, as well as taking

survey Survey may refer to: Statistics and human research * Statistical survey, a method for collecting quantitative information about items in a population * Survey (human research), including opinion polls Spatial measurement * Surveying, the techniq ...

s from international travellers to rate cabin staff, airports, airlines, airline lounges, in-flight entertainment, on-board

catering Catering is the business of providing food service at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio. History of catering The earliest account of major services be ...

, and several other elements of air travel. Apart from these evaluations, Skytrax has an airline forum where passengers give potential passengers insights and opinions about an airline. The website also hosts flight reviews, flight checks, and satisfaction surveys. Skytrax holds an annual World Airline Awards and World Airport Awards, as well as the ranking for airlines and airports.

Controversies

Skytrax claims on its website that it has no economic ties to the airlines and airports that are presented with Skytrax awards, which it says are based on votes by passengers. In fact any person may vote, one vote per IP address. Skytrax provides remunerated consulting services to airlines and airports, and there are doubts as to whether this arrangement allows Skytrax to be objective in the awards that it issues, to wit: In 2011, Skytrax's award of a 5-star rating to

Hainan Airlines Hainan Airlines Co., Ltd. (HNA, ) is an airline headquartered in Haikou, Hainan, People's Republic of China. The airline is rated as a 5-star airline by Skytrax. It is the largest civilian-run and majority state-owned air transport company, ...

subsequent to a consulting project that it completed for the airline raised doubts about the objectivity of the award. In 2012, the online investigations company KwikChex filed five complaints with the UK Advertising Standards Authority related to statements on the Skytrax web site describing the volume and reliability of their reviews as well as the official status and update frequency of their ratings. The ASA ruled that there was no evidence that Skytrax had followed the robust procedures it claimed it had in place to check all reviews were genuine. Although Skytrax argued that every review underwent a four-stage authentication process, it said it was unable to provide proof it had followed its own procedures as customer emails were deleted 24 hours after a review was submitted. The authority upheld all five complaints and Skytrax agreed to modify some promotional wording. In 2014, Etihad stopped participating in Skytrax ratings. In 2015, news company Skift concluded that Skytrax had "wildly inflated" the number of persons participating in its annual survey. Skift reported:

The principal partner appears to be Skytrax’s founder Edward Plaisted, whose background in aviation, or outside of aviation, is unknown. Skift has tried on more than one occasion to get insights from the Skytrax on its methodology, metrics, and business organization with no success. Questions answered by its press representative were later claimed to be off the record, and statements given for previous stories were asked to be retracted.

Skytrax's 2019 downgrading of

Turkish Airlines Turkish Airlines ( Turkish: ''Türk Hava Yolları'') is the national flag carrier airline of Turkey. , it operates scheduled services to 340 destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, making it the largest mainline carrier in the ...

to a three-star carrier, subsequent to its 2018 pulling out of Skytrax, elicited much criticism and accusations of dishonesty in the awards and doubts as to whether Skytrax actually uses the methodology that it states that it uses. Similar criticism arose when Skytrax awarded Lufthansa an award for a future cabin interior in 2019, subsequent to a consulting project that it had completed for the airline.

Awards

Skytrax presents awards annually to airports and airlines that it considers noteworthy in their performance.

Airline of the year

Airport of the year

Airline rankings

The World's 5-star Airlines

Skytrax currently certifies only its top 10–rated airlines with 5 stars. Sources:

Former 5-star Airlines

Airline with the Best Airport Services

Best Inflight Entertainment

Best Aircraft Cabin Cleanliness

World's Best Regional Airlines (Short haul flight)

World's Best Airline Alliance

Airport rankings

The World's 5-Star Airports

Source:

World's Best Airports

World's Cleanest Airports

SkyTrax added anti-

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awards for airports in 2020.

World's Best Airport Terminals

World's Best Transit Airports

References

External links

* *{{YouTube, channel=UCxnW-L6M9GZPeShvIq5x-Ug, Skytrax Business services companies of the United Kingdom Aviation in the United Kingdom