Asian carriers dominate the top 4 places in World's Best Cabin Staff Awards, as passengers nominate their favourite airlines

		Malaysia Airlines flying high as cabin staff take top place in 2007 Best Cabin Staff Awards
	"Global survey ..... multi-national interviews ..... Global awards"

Returning to former winning ways, Malaysia Airlines has won the 2007 World's Best Cabin Staff title, in a very closely contested survey.

"For the last 4 weeks of this survey, we have seen the winning position move around between the final Top 3 airlines several times" commented Edward Plaisted (CEO of the survey organisation, Skytrax).

"In the end, Malaysia Airlines passenger support saw them through to the 2007 title, and we congratulate them for this worthy achievement. Last year's winner, Thai Airways took 3rd place, with Singapore Airlines moving up the rankings into a very close 2nd position, and Cathay Pacific also returning to the top 5 airlines (from 8th in 2006). Qatar Airways is the only non-Asian airline to feature in the top 5 ranking, and they are also named as Best Cabin Staff for the Middle East regional award" added Plaisted.

"Evidently the central role of cabin staff is to ensure the safety of passengers in their care, and this is a responsibility that achieves a good rating for a majority of the world's airlines. Our survey to identify the 'Best' cabin staff standards is based upon assessing a lot more - in effect, we are asking passengers to quantify the quality of their onboard experiences. In addition to the designated hard-service features (eg serving meals), we wanted customers to look at the soft service as well. This covers a wide range of factors - friendliness, enthusiasm and attentiveness of staff, through to the sincerity with which service is provided. Consistency is another critical area, and a key factor in determining future customer loyalty. We often tend to re-purchase a product or service that has served us well in the past, and an airline's cabin staff play a vital role in terms of how a customer may look back on a previous flight as a guide to their future loyalty" said Plaisted.

  Regional Cabin Staff Award details



Survey respondents nominated airlines in the 2007 Best Cabin Staff Awards, based upon a wide variety of Service Quality attributes for cabin staff, including:


::  Assistance during boarding
::  Welcoming passengers
::  Applying safety procedures
::  Food & Beverage service efficiency
::  Answering call bell
::  Staff language skills
::  Problem solving ability
::  Discipline among staff
::  Enthusiasm of staff
::  Sincerity of Staff service
::  Friendliness of staff
::  Courtesy of Staff service
::  Consistency of Quality among staff
::  Total service efficiency
::  Total cabin presence
::  Staff grooming & Presentation

REGIONAL BEST CABIN STAFF RESULTS

SURVEY METHODOLOGY / DETAILS

The Worlds Best Cabin Staff Survey is commissioned and conducted by Skytrax Research of London. No outside sponsorship or external influence is applied to any aspect of the Survey.

More than 90 different nationalities of survey respondents are represented in the final survey results.

Out of a total 3,778,502 survey interviews for the 2006/7 Cabin Staff Survey, 244,221 responses were ineligible - either due to duplicate submissions, or where input was not considered bona-fide or independent).


The Worlds Best Cabin Staff Survey data was gathered using a range of input sources:

::  Online Customer Survey
::  Business Research Group Interviews
::  Customer Telephone Interviews
::  Selected Passenger Interviews



Additional research comprised back-up interviews, amongst a random, representative sample of Survey respondents. This research was to both verify survey interviews, and to gain respondent reasons for specific airline nominations.


Further enquiries should be directed to:

Mr Peter Miller
Marketing Director
SKYTRAX RESEARCH
E-mail: miller@airlinequality.com