On the stage of Skytrax world airline awards, Virgin Blue has been named best low-cost airline in the Australia/Pacific region. It has claimed the title for the fourth time, and has surpassed Qantas offshoot Jetstar and Tiger, who bagged second and third positions respectively.
Skytrax Chairman Edward Plaisted said, "Virgin Blue was clearly capturing the customer's hearts in what is an extremely competitive region for low cost airlines". Malaysian-based AirAsia was declared the world's best low-cost airline for the second straight year.
Air New Zealand was named best airline among other awards in the Australia/Pacific region, covering out Qantas and Virgin Blue's long-haul carrier V Australia.
The Airline of the year award went to Asiana Airlines, followed by Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways. Air New Zealand was on the fifth position. Qantas stood seventh in the overall category but, won for best premium economy class.
The Skytrax awards are 11 years old and are based on a survey of 17.9 million air travelers conducted between July 2009 and April 2010.
The passenger traffic at three points including Gold Coast, Townsville and Mount Isa recorded a 10.3 per cent boost in passenger traffic in April, as compared to the same time a year ago, reported Queensland Airports Ltd.
