Air New Zealand named best airline in South Pacific

Air New Zealand has taken home the passenger choice award for Best Airline in the South Pacific at the 2023 Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX) Official Airline Ratings.

The Kiwi carrier was also named a 2023 APEX Five Star winner.

The winners of the APEX Awards were revealed last night at the Long Beach Convention Center at a packed ceremony of aviation insiders.

Hosted by BBC presenter Aaron Heslehurst, TV personality Tyra Banks and aviation journalist Mary Kirby, the awards recognise airlines in various regions for providing the best passenger experiences as rated by passengers.

For the 2023 Awards, nearly one million flights were rated by passengers across more than 600 airlines from around the world using a five-star scale. Passengers were given the opportunity to provide anonymous ratings in five subcategories: seat comfort, cabin service, food and beverage, entertainment, and Wi-Fi.

Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran said the airline is incredibly proud to be named Best Airline in the South Pacific.

“This award is testament of the outstanding product and service our teams continue to deliver to our customers – this award goes to our Air New Zealand whānau (family),” he said.

“A very big thank you to all our employees who played an important role in getting us to where we are today.

“With New Zealand’s international borders reopened, this is a fantastic way to celebrate that once our Chicago service resumes on 30 October, we’ll not only be back to flying to all 29 of our international destinations, but we’ve also grown – having launched New York last month.”

Other recipients of the Five-star rating in the global category included Aeromexico, Air Canada, Air China, Air France, Air New Zealand, American Airlines, ANA, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, Delta Airlines, EL AL, Emirates, Etihad, Eva Air, Finnair, Japan Airlines, KLM Dutch Airlines, Korean Air, LATAM, LOT Polish Airlines, Qatar Airways, SAUDIA, SAS, Singapore Airlines, SWISS, Turkish Airlines, United Airlines and Virgin Atlantic.

The list of Five Star major airlines encompasses Air Tahiti Nui, Air Transat, Alaska Airlines, COPA, Fiji Airways, Hawaiian Airlines Icelandair, JetBlue and Oman Air.

Meanwhile JSX was recognized as the Five Star regional airline.

Four Star global airlines were Lufthansa and TAP Portugal and four star major airline awards were given to Air Astana, Avianca, Gulf Air, Philippine Airlines and SriLankan Airlines.

Four Star LCCs were Allegiant Air, Eurowings, Southwest, Spirit, Suncountry and WestJet.

Finally, the Four Star regional airlines were Aeromar and Aeromexico Connect.

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