SA Airways voted best airline in Africa

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13 July 2012

South African Airways (SAA) has been voted the best airline in Africa for the 10th year in a row by UK global aviation research organisation Skytrax.

The awards were handed out at the Farnborough International Airshow in the UK on Thursday and received by SAA chief executive officer Siza Mzimela and the chairperson of the SAA board, Cheryl Carolus.

“Skytrax has again confirmed that SAA, with our excellent service and very convenient connections to 26 African destinations via our Johannesburg hub, ranks with the best in the world,” Mzimela said in a statement.

The airline also won the Best Staff Service in Africa award for the third time in succession.

“We are immensely proud of our staff, because it is their consistent, professional and dedicated approach combined with our reliable fleet, our hospitable and advanced on-board products and the convenient connectivity we offer through our global route network that led passengers to again rate SAA number one in Africa,” Mzimela said.

The Skytrax awards are based on customer responses to a survey which is run over a period of 10 months.

In 2012, over 18-million businesses and leisure air travellers from 100 countries were polled by telephone, questionnaires and online.

The survey covered over 200 airlines, from the largest international airlines to the smallest domestic airlines.

It measured passenger satisfaction across nearly 40 key performance and service indicators including the airport and on-board environments, from check-in to boarding, on-board seat comfort, cabin cleanliness, food and beverages as well as staff behaviour and service standards and consistency.

Skytrax chairperson Edward Plaisted said SAA’s success was a clear indication of the esteem that passengers had for the airline and the dominance it has.

The World Airline Awards are the global benchmarks of airline excellence.

Other accolades that SAA has received this year include a four-star rating in February by Skytrax.

Source: SANews.gov.za