SIA crowned world’s best airline in global survey

The annual world rankings survey was conducted by London-based research firm Skytrax from September 2025 to August 2026.

ST PHOTO: BENJAMIN SEETOR

Published Sep 18, 2026, 08:00 PM

Updated Sep 18, 2026, 08:02 PM

Singapore Airlines (SIA) was named the world’s best airline in the 2026 Skytrax global survey, surpassing Qatar Airways and earning multiple awards including the world's best economy class and best airline in Asia.

SIA Group achieved a record revenue of $20.5 billion in 2025/2026 and carried 42.2 million passengers; Scoot also won best long haul low-cost airline for the sixth year.

Challenges include delays in new seat launches on Airbus A350-900 and Boeing 777-9 .

SINGAPORE – National carrier Singapore Airlines (SIA) has won the title of the world’s best airline in a 2026 global poll involving more than 24 million travellers.

It beat the 2025 winner, Qatar Airways, which came in second this year. Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways, Japan’s ANA All Nippon Airways and Turkish Airlines were in third, fourth and fifth positions, respectively.

SIA had finished second behind Qatar Airways in 2025, as well as in 2024, 2022, 2021 and 2019. It topped the list in 2023, 2018, 2008, 2007 and 2004.

The annual world rankings survey was conducted by London-based research firm Skytrax from September 2025 to August 2026, with travellers of more than 100 nationalities rating over 325 airlines.

Scoot, SIA’s low-cost subsidiary, was named the best long-haul low-cost airline for the sixth consecutive year. It also placed second in the world’s best low-cost airline category, after winner AirAsia.

SIA also bagged awards for best airline in Asia, world’s best economy class, and world’s best economy class onboard catering at the 2026 Skytrax World Airline Awards ceremony held on Sept 18 in London.

It was runner-up in the world’s best cabin crew category, which Cathay Pacific Airways won.

Goh Choon Phong, SIA’s chief executive officer, said the award is a testament to the dedication and professionalism of the company’s staff, who continually work towards upholding the airline’s standards for service and operational excellence. He expressed gratitude to the airline’s customers for their trust and support.

For the 2025/2026 financial year, SIA Group logged its highest-ever revenue of $20.5 billion .

SIA and Scoot carried a record 42.2 million passengers from April 2025 to March 2026, up 7.7 per cent from the year before.

On Sept 8, Singapore Airlines’ 25.1 per cent stake in Air India was discussed in Parliament between Workers’ Party MP Kenneth Tiong and Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow.

This came after it was made public in August that Air India was reportedly seeking about US$1.5 billion (S$1.9 billion) in fresh equity from its owners , Tata Sons and SIA.

In a filing with the Singapore Exchange on July 20 , this topic was raised, given that Air India has been facing well-publicised challenges such as the depreciation of the Indian rupee, supply chain disruptions, Pakistan airspace closures and the plane crash in June 2025 that killed 260 people .

Separately , the Singapore carrier has had to delay the introduction of its new first- and business-class seats on its Airbus A350-900 fleet to the first quarter of 2027, from the second quarter of 2026.

The new seats were also meant to be launched on the next-generation Boeing 777-9 jets as early as 2021, but production of the new wide-body aircraft has been hit by delays .

Esther Loi is a journalist at The Straits Times, where she covers transport issues.

Aviation/Aerospace sector

这项年度世界排名调查由总部位于伦敦的研究公司 Skytrax 于 2025 年 9 月至 2026 年 8 月进行。

照片：本杰明·西托

发布于2026年9月18日晚上8点

更新于2026年9月18日晚上8:02

在 2026 年 Skytrax 全球调查中，新加坡航空公司 (SIA) 被评为世界最佳航空公司，超越卡塔尔航空公司，并荣获多项奖项，包括世界最佳经济舱和亚洲最佳航空公司。

新加坡航空集团在 2025/2026 财年创下 205 亿美元的营收纪录，运送乘客 4220 万人次；酷航也连续第六年荣获最佳长途低成本航空公司称号。

挑战包括空客A350-900和波音777-9新座椅发布延迟。

新加坡——新加坡航空公司（SIA）在2026年一项涉及超过2400万旅客的全球民意调查中，荣获世界最佳航空公司称号。

它击败了2025年的冠军卡塔尔航空，卡塔尔航空今年位居第二。香港国泰航空、日本全日空航空和土耳其航空分别位列第三、第四和第五。

新加坡航空在 2025 年、2024 年、2022 年、2021 年和 2019 年均位列卡塔尔航空之后，排名第二。它在 2023 年、2018 年、2008 年、2007 年和 2004 年位居榜首。

这项年度世界航空公司排名调查由总部位于伦敦的研究公司 Skytrax 于 2025 年 9 月至 2026 年 8 月进行，来自 100 多个国家的旅客对 325 多家航空公司进行了评分。

新加坡航空旗下的低成本子公司酷航连续第六年被评为最佳长途低成本航空公司。同时，酷航在全球最佳低成本航空公司评选中位列第二，仅次于冠军亚洲航空。

在 9 月 18 日于伦敦举行的 2026 年 Skytrax 世界航空奖颁奖典礼上，新加坡航空还获得了亚洲最佳航空公司、世界最佳经济舱和世界最佳经济舱机上餐饮奖。

它获得了世界最佳乘务员评选的亚军，该奖项由国泰航空获得。

新加坡航空首席执行官吴俊鹏表示，该奖项是对公司员工敬业精神和专业素养的肯定，他们始终致力于维护航空公司在服务和运营方面的卓越标准。他同时对航空公司客户的信任和支持表示感谢。

2025/2026 财年，新加坡航空集团创下有史以来最高的营收纪录，达到 205 亿美元。

从 2025 年 4 月到 2026 年 3 月，新加坡航空和酷航共运送了创纪录的 4220 万名乘客，比上一年增长了 7.7%。

9月8日，新加坡航空公司持有印度航空25.1%的股份，这一问题在国会由工人党议员张建宗和交通部长萧正树进行了讨论。

此前有消息称，印度航空正在寻求从其所有者塔塔集团和新加坡航空获得约 15 亿美元（19 亿新元）的新股权。

7 月 20 日，印度航空向新加坡交易所提交的文件提出了这一话题，因为印度航空一直面临着众所周知的挑战，例如印度卢比贬值、供应链中断、巴基斯坦空域关闭以及 2025 年 6 月造成 260 人死亡的飞机坠毁事件。

另外，新加坡航空公司不得不将空客 A350-900 机队上新推出的头等舱和商务舱座椅的推出时间从 2026 年第二季度推迟到 2027 年第一季度。

新座椅原计划最早于 2021 年在下一代波音 777-9 喷气式飞机上推出，但这种新型宽体飞机的生产受到了延误的影响。

埃丝特·罗伊是《海峡时报》的记者，主要报道交通运输问题。

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