Malaysian Airlines wins ‘World’s Leading Airline to Asia’ award

Malaysia Airlines has been named ‘World’s Leading Airline to Asia 2011’ by the World Travel Awards for the second year running.

The award to the national airline, as voted by travel professionals worldwide, was presented at a gala event last week held in Doha, Qatar.

The ceremony marked the culmination of a year-long search for the very best travel and tourism brands in the world, including a head-to-head competition amongst earlier announced World Travel Awards’ regional winners for the coveted ‘world-level’ accolade.

Dubbed the ‘Oscars of the travel industry’, the World Travel Awards is an annual event that began in 1993. It serves to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all sectors of the global travel and tourism industry.

For the World Travel Awards programme in 2011, a phenomenal 213,000 industry professionals participated in the online voting process that is strictly monitored and independently audited. In the ‘World’s Leading Airline to Asia’ category, Malaysia Airlines was up against seven other major airlines including Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways International and Cathay Pacific Airways.

Earlier, Malaysia Airlines had been a big winner at the Asia and Australasia regional awards competition held in Bangkok at the end of September. It won recognition as ‘Asia’s Leading Airline 2011’ and ‘Asia’s Leading Airline Lounge 2011’ for the Golden Lounge at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).

In the previous year, Malaysia Airlines had been named ‘Asia’s Leading Airline 2010’ and ‘Asia’s Leading Airline Business Class 2010’ apart from winning the coveted ‘World’s Leading Airline to Asia 2010’ honour. 

Receiving the ‘World’s Leading Airline to Asia 2011’ award for Malaysia Airlines at the Doha ceremony yesterday was Head of Customer Experience, Dato’ Salleh Ahmad Tabrani. He was accompanied on-stage by a happy Malaysia Airlines team of cabin crew, airport operations and ramp services.   Commenting on the win, Dato’ Salleh said, “The international recognition is a great honour for the whole Malaysia Airlines team that consistently does its best to serve our guests. The win is a timely morale booster for our team as we prepare to bring our service delivery and customer experience level up to a higher benchmark as part of making Malaysia Airlines the Preferred Premium Carrier.”

For Malaysia Airlines’ Group Chief Executive Officer, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, the recognition was an important element in the airline’s initiatives to ‘win back customers’ as outlined in the recent Malaysia Airlines’ Business Plan.

“This year, we look forward to the delivery of 23 new aircraft, equipped with state-of-the-art passenger amenities, to boost our brand name. Winning the ‘World’s Leading Airline to Asia’ award will certainly help us as we work hard to win back the loyalty of customers, especially those in Malaysia, and convince them of the superior value of our enhanced products and services,” said Ahmad Jauhari.