AirlineRatings.com, a safety and product rating website, has announced Air New Zealand as its Airline of the Year for 2018.

Air New Zealand is being honored for the fifth consecutive year for its record-breaking performance, multi award winning in-flight innovations, operational safety, environmental leadership and motivation of its staff. These factors have stamped the airline as a clear industry leader.

The AirlineRatings.com Airline Excellence Awards, judged by six editors with over 180 years' industry experience, combines major safety and government audits, with 12 key criteria - up from nine last year - that include: fleet age, passenger reviews profitability, investment rating, product offerings, and staff relations.

www.AirlineRatings.com editor-in-chief Geoffrey Thomas said: "In our objective analysis Air New Zealand came out number one in virtually all of our audit criteria, which is an exceptional performance."

Air New Zealand CEO Christopher Luxon said: "This award is testament to the huge effort from all of our people to deliver a world class Kiwi experience on the ground and in the air. It is extremely rewarding to see their hard work recognized by such an experienced panel of aviation judges."

"Air New Zealand is committed to redefining the customer experience and we are looking forward to unveiling many exciting new initiatives in 2018."

• Qantas won Best Domestic Airline Service, Best Catering and Best Lounges.

• Singapore Airlines picked up Best First Class and Best Cabin Crew.

• Korean Air won Best Economy.

• Virgin Australia won Best Business Class

• Best In-Flight Entertainment went to Emirates.

• Aegean Airlines won Best Regional Airline

• Tianjin Airlines Most Improved Airline.

• VietJetAir took out the new category Best Ultra Low-Cost airline

• Excellence in Long Haul travel: Air Canada (Americas), Virgin Atlantic (Europe), Etihad Airways (Middle-East/Africa) and Korean Air (Asia/Pacific).

• Best Low-Cost Airline: Westjet (Americas), Norwegian (Europe) and Scoot (Asia/Pacific).

• Top Ten Airlines 2018: Air New Zealand, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Virgin Australia, Virgin Atlantic, Etihad Airways, All Nippon Airways, Korean Air, Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines.

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