World Airline Awards for cabin cleanliness: Japanese airline the best in the world, Qantas outside top 20

Passengers inside the cabin of a commercial airliner during flight. Shallow depth of field with focus on the seats in the foreground.
By Christian Fleetwood


International and domestic customers have voted Qantas and Virgin Australia outside the top 20 cleanest airlines in the world at the World Airline Awards.

The World’s Best Airline Cabin Cleanliness 2018 by Skytrax was awarded to Japan’s ANA All Nippon Airways, the accolade for its highest “standards and quality of cleanliness in the aircraft cabin”.

Qantas Airways did not reach the top 10 for customer satisfaction on cleanliness, achieving the 22nd spot on the international rankings, while Virgin Australia reached 27th on the ladder.

Neither of the Australian airlines were given the accolade for Best Airline Cabin Cleanliness in Australia/Pacific, with Air New Zealand rated best in the region by surveyed customers.

The US and Britain did not have a presence inside the top 30, with neither British Airways, United Airlines or American Airlines making the list for cabin cleanliness.

The 2018 survey for World’s Best Airline Cabin Cleanliness was conducted from August 2017 to May 2018, with over 20.36 million eligible survey entries counted in the final results.

A surveyed 23 million customers have ranked Japan's ANA All Nippon Airways the cleanest in the world.

A surveyed 20 million customers have ranked Japan’s ANA All Nippon Airways the cleanest in the world.

Customer surveys were provided in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Japanese, with the cost of operating the survey paid entirely by Skytrax.

On its website, Skytrax has said the following regarding its methodology:

“As the world’s largest, annual airline passenger satisfaction survey, it is not restricted to member airlines or a pre-selected choice of airline, and any airline in the world can be nominated. The focus of the survey is for customers to make their own, personal choices as to which airline they consider to be the best, underlining the brand as the Passenger’s Choice Awards.”

Other important surveyed factors for customers were the cleanliness and presentation of seat areas, tables, carpets, cabin panels and washrooms.

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