Last year's winner Qatar Airways came in second this year, followed by Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways, Japan's ANA All Nippon Airways and Turkish Airlines.

The annual world rankings survey was conducted from September 2025 to August 2026, with travelers of more than 100 nationalities rating over 325 airlines.

A Qatar Airways aircraft takes off at the aircraft builder's headquarters of Airbus in Colomiers near Toulouse, France, Sept. 27, 2019. Photo by Reuters

Budget carrier Scoot was named the best long-haul low-cost airline for the sixth consecutive year. It also placed second in the world's best low-cost airline category, after winner AirAsia.

Singapore Airlines and Scoot carried a record 42.2 million passengers between April 2025 and March 2026, a 7.7% increase from the previous year, The Straits Times reported.

Singapore Airlines will launch new flights to Madrid in October 2026, expanding its services to Europe.

As of January 2025, Singapore Airlines and its subsidiary Scoot serve 120 international destinations across 46 countries from their Singapore hub.