Good to see that despite their recent Whoops There Goes the Oxygen Tank Emergency Landing into Manila Thriller that the latest Skytrax survey still ranks Qantas as the world’s third best airline.
The good news doesn’t stop there. Qantas was also bestowed with the Best Australasian Airline award which speaks volumes to all those naysayers who claim Qantas is putting profit and executive salaries above all else.
This really is no mean feat. The Pacific islands are universally well known for the size and world class-ness of their airlines. Let’s have a look at some of the illustrious competitors they had to beat to win Best Australasian Airline:
Solomon Airlines
After civil war broke out in 1999, UN imposed sanctions severely damaged Solomon Airlines’ international routes, and at one point, the airline was allowed to operate only one interantional route, from Honiara to Brisbane, once a week.
Polynesian Airlines
From its base in Samoa, Polynesian Airlines previously serviced an extensive network including Auckland, Wellington, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Rarotonga, Papeete, Honolulu and Los Angeles. It ambitiously replaced its 737 aircraft with much larger, leased 767s – a move which bankrupted the airline.
Royal Tongan Airlines
Royal Tongan closed after the carrier ran out of cash for repairs. This followed a mechanical failure which grounded the last remaining aircraft in May 2004. It had been facing an uncertain future since April, when its only aircraft serving international routes was repossessed.
Air Nauru
In December 2005 the High Court of Australia upheld an earlier decision to allow the bank to seize VH-RON, Air Nauru’s only aircraft, leaving Nauru and the island nation Kiribati without air services. The airline was rebranded as Our Airline and relaunched on 14 October 2006. Its services are kept on a very loose schedule. Their logo has possibly had the least amount of effort put into it than any airline in aviation history:
visited 24 countries-
like to visit 55 countries