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Best in Business Travel

Singapore Airlines named best global airline for business travel

By
Fortune Editors
Fortune Editors
and
Travel + Leisure
Travel + Leisure
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By
Fortune Editors
Fortune Editors
and
Travel + Leisure
Travel + Leisure
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September 10, 2015, 10:00 AM ET
Top 10 Airlines
TripAdvisor has released its 2018 ranking of the world's 10 best airlines - and only one U.S. carrier made the list. Courtesy of Singapore Airlines

Singapore Airlines is ranked the best among international carriers in the Best in Business Travel survey again this year, two years in a row.

For our second annual survey, Fortune partnered with Travel + Leisure to ask readers about their habits and brand preferences while traveling for work. They named their favorite airlines and rated them using a variety of criteria, including customer service, frequent flier programs, in-flight class experience, food and entertainment options, and airport lounges.

Here’s what sets Singapore Airlines apart from the rest:

• Many of its 15,000 menus are tailored to the carrier’s route map. First- and business-class fliers leaving from London, for example, can have a full English breakfast.

• KrisFlyer Spree, the airline’s new online mall, means passengers have nearly 2,000 brands—from Paul Smith to Muji—at their fingertips.

• A new premium economy class will debut on U.S. flights by the end of 2015, with custom leather seats, foldout leg rests, and 13.3-inch HD screens.

• A new customer-experience management system will soon give crew members access to passengers’ travel preferences.

See below for rankings of international airlines by survey categories.

Best International Airlines for Business Travel — Overall

Drinks bottles sit at the end of a First Class passenger bar inside an Airbus SAS A380 aircraft, operated by Qatar Airways Ltd., on day two of the 51st International Paris Air Show in Paris, France, on Tuesday, June 16, 2015.

1. Singapore Airlines
2. Emirates
3. Air New Zealand
4. Cathay Pacific
5. Qatar Airways

Best Customer Service

Tourists check-in at an All Nippon Airways (ANA) counter as the new Haneda-Hanoi route opens at Tokyo's Haneda airport.

1. Singapore Airlines
2. Air New Zealand
3. Cathay Pacific
4. ANA/All Nippon Airways
5. Japan Airlines

Best Airport Lounges

Patrons make use of Singapore Airlines Ltd.'s Kris lounge for first class passengers, at Changi Airport in Singapore.

1. Singapore Airlines
2. Qatar Airways
3. Emirates
4. Cathay Pacific
5. Virgin Atlantic Airways

Best Frequent-Flier Loyalty Programs

Singapore Airlines Ltd. signage is displayed at the company's check in counters at Chek Lap Kok Airport in Hong Kong, China.

1. Singapore Airlines
2. EVA Air
3. Turkish Airlines
4. Cathay Pacific
5. Asiana Airlines

Best Economy Class In-Flight Experience

Light-emitting diode (LED) lights illuminate the economy class cabin of an Airbus A350 XWB aircraft, produced by Airbus Group NV, inside a Japan Airlines Co. (JAL) hangar during a media preview at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan, on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014. JAL ordered 18 A350-900 aircraft and 13 larger A350-1000s President Yoshiharu Ueki told reporters last year. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty Images

1. Singapore Airlines
2. Air New Zealand
3. Virgin Atlantic Airways
4. Japan Airlines
5. Emirates

Best Premium Economy In-Flight Experience

Passengers on a Virgin America flight to New York stow their bags.

1. Singapore Airlines
2. Virgin Atlantic Airways
3. Air France
4. Lufthansa
5. British Airways

Best Business Class In-Flight Experience

A stewardess poses in the bar of the business class of an Airbus A380 from Emirates.

1. Emirates
2. Singapore Airlines
3. Qatar Airways
4. Cathay Pacific
5. Virgin Atlantic Airways

Best First Class In-Flight Experience

1. Cathay Pacific
2. Emirates
3. Lufthansa
4. British Airways
5. KLM

 

For more on the Best in Business Travel 2015, visit travelandleisure.com/best-in-business-travel. To see the survey methodology, go here. 

Read: Virgin America named the best U.S. airline for business travel

Read: The Best Hotels for Business Travel

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