South African Airways (SAA) continues to slide down the ranks of the world’s best airlines, dropping for the fourth consecutive year to its worst place on record. Meanwhile, Ethiopian Airlines continues to soar in Africa and abroad.
South Africa’s flag carrier has had a tumultuous past few years. From fierce financial losses, which forced it into business rescue, to the pandemic that crippled the global aviation sector, SAA’s road to renewal has been fraught.
And although the airline has re-emerged as a much leaner carrier, its future, seemingly dependent on a strategic equity partnership deal with the Takatso Consortium, remains uncertain.
SAA’s financial and operational challenges have been reflected in the airline’s slide down the Skytrax World’s Top 100 Airlines chart. Revealed at the 2022 World Airline Awards, held in London on Friday, the latest survey results show SAA sliding to 79 on the list of top 100 airlines, dropping 12 places for the year.
Skytrax, which has been keeping tabs on international airlines since 1999, relied on more than 13 million eligible survey entries for its 2022 World Airline Awards. These passengers were asked to rank their satisfaction levels for aspects of the travel experience across both the airport and onboard environments.
The airline’s decline in the global standings predates the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2019, SAA ranked 46, and in 2018, 45, maintaining its position at roughly the half-way mark for consecutive years.
Over the past decade of Skytrax awards, SAA’s position peaked at 21 in 2013. At the time, South Africa’s national carrier was rated better than British Airways, KLM, Virgin Atlantic, and Air France. SAA’s drop to 79 on the international rankings puts it at its worst spot since Skytrax started measuring airlines two decades ago.
Elsewhere on the African continent, there is one airline which has seen a meteoric rise in the rankings coinciding with SAA’s fall.
A decade ago, Ethiopian Airlines wasn’t even listed among the world’s top carriers, coming in at 114. But where SAA’s position has slipped over the last four years, Ethiopian Airlines’ has climbed. In the latest Skytrax rankings, Ethiopian Airlines improved to 26th place in the global standings.
It’s not just in the global standings where Ethiopian Airlines continues to outperform SAA.
SAA held onto its top spot as the best airline in Africa for 14 consecutive years, up until 2017, when it was overtaken by the continent’s largest and most profitable carrier, Ethiopian. South Africa’s flag carrier came second to Ethiopian Airlines for three consecutive years and, in 2022, for the first time on record, fell to third place on the continent, overtaken by Morocco’s national carrier, Royal Air Maroc.
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Meanwhile, Ethiopian Airlines held onto its title of the “Best Airline in Africa” for a fifth consecutive year. The carrier was voted as the continent’s best business class and economy class airline for the fourth year in a row while also picking up the top spot for “Best Business Class Onboard Catering in Africa”.
“We are truly honoured by the multiple prestigious awards that Ethiopian won today,” said Ethiopian Airlines CEO Mesfin Tasew in a statement on Friday.
“It gives me great pleasure to witness such a rewarding event to the hard work Ethiopian Airlines employees and management team put in order to provide our valued passengers the best quality service”.
Source: Business insider
