Skytrax Airline of the Year is the established, global barometer of passenger opinions about airlines around the world. Free of outside or financial influences, it is the only airline survey that achieves a truly worldwide audience - comprising more than 94 different respondent nationalities in 2005.

This, the world's "largest" passenger survey, was conducted over an 11 month period (June 2004 - May 2005), and the final  total of eligible survey nominations was 12,334,283.

Survey responses represent an increase of more 1.5 million extra survey interviews, compared to the 2003/4 levels.

Unlike other airline surveys, Skytrax Airline of the Year is not focussed on one specific sector of the passenger market. It compasses a wide mixture of passenger types - business customers who may be more familiar with the front-end of the aircraft (First/Business class), and most importantly, the large majority of global air travellers who travel Economy class, be it leisure or business travel.

The survey is commissioned and undertaken by Skytrax Research of London, UK.  No outside sponsorship or external influence is applied to any aspect of the Survey -  making it  the most respected Passenger Survey of it's type in the world.

The Survey data was collated from a variety of input sources, including:

  Passenger Interviews completed online & via e-mail Questionnaire

  Skytrax Travel Panel Interviews

  Corporate Travel Questionnaire / Interviews

  Telephone Interviews

  Selective Passenger Interviews

Product and Service factors ranked by customers in the 2005 World Airline Survey

GROUND / AIRPORT

User-friendly Internet site

Online Booking service 

Ticket Counter service 

Waiting times at Check-in 
Quality of Check-in service
Boarding Procedures
Friendliness of Ground staff 
Efficiency of Ground Staff
Transfer service
Quality of Arrival services
Baggage Delivery times
Handling of Delays

ONBOARD PRODUCT
Cabin Seat comfort
Cabin Cleanliness
Toilet Cleanliness
Cabin Lighting / Ambience
Cabin Temperatures
Selection of Reading Materials
Standard of Airline magazine
Sound / Vision quality of Movies
Choice of Movie Programmes 
Choice of Audio Programmes
Quality of Meals
Quantity of Food served
Meal Choice Availability
Selection of Drinks

ONBOARD SERVICE
Assistance during Boarding
Friendliness of Staff
Service Attentiveness
Staff Language skills
Efficiency serving Meals
Availability thru Flight
Making PA Announcements
Problem solving Skills
General Staff Attitudes 
Staff Grooming Standards 

Additional research was conducted by detailed back-up interviews amongst a representative sample of Survey respondents. This research was to gain respondent reasons for Best Airline nomination, and prime satisfaction drivers when using and / or choosing an airline.

Data weighting was applied to provide nomination equity when evaluating airlines of different size, to ensure that smaller regional airlines are judged according to "quality" merit, versus the largest, global airlines.

MONITORING ONLINE VOTING

All online Survey interviews were screened to identify and monitor ISP / user information and delete all duplicate / multiple entries.

The Skytrax poll-breaker program applies pattern-checking to all survey interviews. This identifies all nominations that follow similar rating patterns, or duplicating earlier entries - especially important to ensure that virtual private network users cannot submit multiple or misleading entries.

The net result of the Skytrax  "poll-breaker" program was that 10.36 per cent of total responses were ruled ineligible in this 2005 Airline Survey, to ensure maximum accuracy of final results.

No financial payment was made to any survey interviewees, and the cost of the Survey is funded entirely by Skytrax, with no third party financial sponsorship or support. 

SURVEY INCENTIVE

A survey completion "prize" incentive was offered to respondents participating in this 2005 World Airline Survey. The survey prize is supplied by Skytrax, and no financial assistance or sponsorship is supplied by any airport or third party.

IMPORTANT NOTE

Skytrax are unable to provide more information to general enquiries, than that supplied in these Survey pages.

Airline of the Year Reports are available for purchase - containing Survey methodology - Airline nominations - Airline ratings - consumer voting patterns and supportive data.