Washington, D.C.–Air Transport World magazine, the leading monthly magazine covering the global airline industry, selected Australian carrier Qantas as its Airline of the Year for 2004. The editors praised “the carrier’s relentless focus on excellence in the air combined with leanness and flexibility on the ground.”
ATW Editorial Director J.A. Donoghue added: “Any airline that can increase profits during the Asian Currency Crisis and remain profitable after 9/11 and last year’s SARS outbreak is certainly made of the right stuff.”
Other award winners include Chautauqua, selected as ATW’s Regional Airline of the Year. The Indianapolis-based regional partner of American, Delta and US Airways was cited for its ability to remain profitable since 2000 while its traffic since 1999 grew more than 900%.
Singapore Airlines received the Passenger Service Award. ATW’s editors said, “In an age in which airlines are delivering less and less service, Singapore Airlines never stops reaching for the skies, always on the lookout for new ways to satisfy its customers.”
Siberia Airlines received ATW’s Market Leadership Award. ATW editors said the Russian carrier “used Western business tools of merger, acquisition and partnership” to become the largest domestic airline in Russia, and second largest overall in the country.
Delta Air Lines of Atlanta received ATW’s Airline Technology Leadership Award for the work its Delta Technology subsidiary has done completely re-inventing the airline’s technology infrastructure, creating its instant-access Delta Nervous System.
Aer Lingus, the Irish flag carrier based in Dublin, was picked to be the first recipient of the new ATW Phoenix Award, presented to an airline that has successfully left behind an old, failing business model to reinvent itself as a low-fare airline more likely to survive in today’s brutal airline markets.
The awards will be presented in Singapore at Air Transport World’s Gala Awards Dinner on Monday, February 23, at the Swissotel Singapore.
By: wannabe pilot - 30th January 2004 at 17:48
I’ve just found out the flight details for certain, and I’m so excited. We’re flying on Lufthansa from Heathrow-Frankfurt, likely to be an Airbus.
Then from Frankfurt-Singapore on a Qantas 747-400.
Then from Singapore-Kota Kinabalu on an Australian Airlines 767! I’d never even considered this airline, I can’t wait! I love their livery aswell!
6 flights in 12 days!:D 😀 😀 😀 Oh well I’ve gotta wait another 2 months yet…… 🙁
By: wannabe pilot - 30th January 2004 at 16:27
Originally posted by greekdude1
P.S. Wannabe, where are you flying to/from?
As far as I can work out, Im flying Heathrow-Singapore on a Qantas 747, and then onwards to Kota Kinabalu (in Borneo) via Kuala Lumpur with Malaysian Airlines. However, our final itinerary hasn’t been sent through yet, and so this is just an assumption. All that is definite is that the main leg is being flown by Qantas, and we are stopping in Singapore.
By: KabirT - 30th January 2004 at 07:00
Originally posted by greekdude1
Why don’t we hear much about Royal Brunei? Obviously they have a lot of monetary backin, but what is their product like?
Yes they have a bloody huge monetary backing…but they dont have much traffic inwards or outwards. They just have oil and oilmen visiting there obviously come in there own jets.:D
By: greekdude1 - 30th January 2004 at 05:29
Why don’t we hear much about Royal Brunei? Obviously they have a lot of monetary backing, but what is their product like?
P.S. Wannabe, where are you flying to/from?
By: wannabe pilot - 29th January 2004 at 08:34
Yay this is good news for me, as I’m flying them in about 2 months time! I didn’t understand, how it was £50 cheaper to fly with Qantas than it was Royal Brunei. Or are Royal Brunei likely to be better, but just not very well known?
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January 29, 2004 at 7:48 am