VIRGIN ATLANTIC WINS AWARD FOR BEST PREMIUM ECONOMY CLASS AIRLINE

"the respected Air Travel Awards"

"Premium Economy remains a travel class that is becoming more and more popular on long haul flights" according to Edward Plaisted (Skytrax CEO). "Virgin Atlantic's new Premium Economy cabin has clearly scored a hit with customers, to take 1st place in the 2009 Awards (up from 6th last year) with EVA Air being ranked 2nd".

"Whilst there is some evidence that a proportion of business class travellers may be downgrading to Premium Economy class at a time of global financial crisis, the core market of more affluent leisure travellers still seems to comprise the largest passenger contingency in this cabin on most airlines" added Plaisted.

BEST PREMIUM ECONOMY CLASS : 2009
Rank	Airline	2008
1	Virgin Atlantic Airways	6
2	EVA Air	1
3	Air New Zealand	5
4	ANA	3
5	British Airways	4
© Skytrax
Result publication allowed with prior consent of Skytrax

The full listing / classification of Economy Class ranking is available in the 2009 Survey Report


Best First Class

Best Business Class

Best Economy Class

The winners of 2009 Skytrax World Airline Awards include Aegean Airlines, Air Arabia, Air Berlin, Air New Zealand, Air Tahiti Nui, AirAsia, Asiana Airlines, Bangkok Airways, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, China Southern Airlines, Continental Airlines, CSA Czech Airlines, easyJet, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Finnair, Jet Airways, jetBlue Airways, JetStar Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, Kingfisher Red, Kulula.com, LAN Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Porter Airlines, Qantas Airways, Qatar Airways, SilkAir, Singapore Airlines, Skymark Airlines, South African Airways, Spring Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines, TACA, Thai Airways, Transero Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Volaris, Webjet, Wizz Air

Further enquiries should be directed to:

Mr Peter Miller
Marketing Director
SKYTRAX RESEARCH
E-mail: miller@airlinequality.com

The World Airline Awards are the most recognised global recognition of airline excellence for front-line product and customer service