Asiana wins 5th straight 'Airline of the Year' award

By Yun Suh-young

Asiana Airlines, the nation’s second largest carrier, said Friday it received its fifth consecutive “Airline of the Year” award.

The airline said it was named the “2012 Best Overall Airline in the World” by global travel magazine, Business Traveller, at the Warwick Hotel in New York, Thursday.

Asiana has received “Airline of the Year” awards from various global travel and airline magazines including Air Transport World in 2009, Skytrax in 2010, Global Traveler in 2011, and Premier Traveler in 2012.

Business Traveller’s “Airline of the Year” award is given to airlines that received the best assessment on flight reservations, and airport and in-flight services. The company was recognized for its brand new first class, OZ First Suite, and new concept business class seats, OZ Quadra Smartium, as well as for its state-of-the-art in-flight facilities. It was also highly evaluated for differentiated services such as sommelier flight attendants providing wine information.

Mediamark Research Inc. conducted the survey for Business Traveller on regular readers.

The award was created 24 years ago and is given every year to international carriers. Singapore Airlines won the award for 22 consecutive years until British Airways garnered it in 2011.

Asiana also received other awards from Business Traveller — the “Best Overall In-flight Experience in the World” for the seventh consecutive time and the “Best Overall Customer Service-Airline-Ground/Call Center” for the fourth time.