Philippine Airlines (PAL) is on a roll. After joining the top 50 best airlines in the world last year, it has just been named the most improved in United Kingdom-based consultancy firm Skytrax’s 2019 list.
The Philippines’ flag carrier is ranked #1 in this year’s World’s Most Improved Airlines list released yesterday, which is based on “an airline’s quality improvement across the entire Awards programme.” This takes into account the airline’s change in global rating and performance improvements in various award categories.
PAL is now ranked 30th out of 100 airlines from all over the world, a 19-spot jump from last year’s #49 showing. It also topped other categories including:
Best Airline Staff in Asia – #10
Best Business Class Comfort Amenities – #10th
The World’s Best Airport Services – #11
World’s Best Premium Economy Class Airlines – #11
The World’s Best Airline Cabin Crew – #11
World’s Best Economy Class Airlines – #14
The new ranking comes amid major changes in PAL’s management. President and COO Jaime Bautista is retiring and now Vivienne Tan, daughter of PAL chairman and chief executive officer Lucio Tan, is the officer-in-charge. She will also act as the executive vice president, treasurer, and chief administration officer. Other high-ranking PAL executives also left the airline in the past weeks following the changing of the guard, The Philippine Star reported.
Philippine airline Cebu Pacific did not reach the top 100 airlines list this year but is ranked 9th in the list of World’s Best Long Haul Low-Cost Airlines.
Skytrax’s annual ranking is based on satisfaction surveys with airline passengers. This year’s list is based on surveys conducted from September 2018 to May 2019. According to their website, over 100 customer nationalities participated in the survey and that more than 300 airlines are included in the results.
