Emirates airline was today named the World’s Best Airline 2016 at the Skytrax World Airline Awards 2016, in addition to scooping up the awards for World’s Best Inflight Entertainment for a record 12th consecutive year, and Best Airline in the Middle East.

In all, three Gulf carriers have been rated in the top 10. Along with Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways also made it to the top 10 list, rated second and sixth best airlines by Skytrax, respectively.

This year’s awards were based on a total of 19.2 million completed surveys covering 280 airlines, by customers hailing from more than 104 countries. The survey measures quality standards across 41 key performance indicators of front-line products and services in the airline industry.

This is the fourth time Emirates has won the top accolade since the airline awards were introduced 15 years ago; the airline won the first Skytrax World’s Best Airline in 2001, again in 2002 and in 2013. In total, Emirates has won a total of 20 Skytrax World Airline Awards since 2001.

Sir Tim Clark, President of Emirates airline, said: “Emirates has always put our customers at the heart of what we do, and we work hard to deliver the very best experience possible to our customers at every touchpoint, every day, all around the world. We constantly invest in our product and services, both on the ground and in the air.

“We listen carefully to our customers, and then relentlessly challenge ourselves to deliver and exceed expectations. The fact that these awards are based on the direct feedback from passengers is gratifying and wonderful recognition for all of the hard work that’s gone into creating the Emirates experience.”

Emirates is the world’s largest international airline, with an extensive network that has grown to offer its customers a choice of 154 destinations in 81 countries across six continents.

Etihad Airways was ranked No 6 worldwide and also won three awards. The Abu Dhabi based airline was named as having the World’s Best First Class cabin, Best First Class seat and Best First Class catering.

TOP TEN AIRLINES OF 2016

1   Emirates

2 Qatar Airways

3   Singapore Airlines

4   Cathay Pacific

5   ANA All Nippon Airways

6   Etihad Airways

7   Turkish Airlines

8   EVA Air

9   Qantas Airways

10 Lufthansa

Source: emirates247.com