If you’re anything like me, picking flights comes down to a combination of affordability and dodging those with a sketchy track record. Some travellers are all about loyalty programs and racking up those sweet points, while others dive deep into the stats on legroom, punctuality and cleanliness. But if you really want to choose the best airline, you should turn to the opinions of actual customers.
That’s exactly how Skytrax determines the winners of its annual World Airline Awards, which have just been announced for 2025. Each year, they gather customer satisfaction insights from travellers in 100 countries, covering more than 350 different airlines. From this, they produce a prestigious global ranking of the world’s best operators, along with regional top ten lists. So, Aussie frequent flyers – listen up.
In 2025, Qantas Airways reclaimed its title as the best airline in the Australia-Pacific region, overtaking last year’s winner, Fiji Airways. On the global stage, Qantas soared from 24th place in 2024 to be named the 14th best airline in the world for 2025. It also ranked first in the region across all cabin classes: best economy, premium economy (9th globally), business (13th globally) and first class (11th globally). To top it off, Qantas was named the cleanest airline in the region (18th globally), and earned accolades for best onboard catering and best cabin crew (19th globally).
Virgin Australia is also flying high on the global charts, climbing from 43rd place last year to be named the 34th best airline in the world right now. It’s Australia’s second-highest-performing airline and ranks fourth across the Australia-Pacific region. But it really took off in the best regional airline category – snagging first place in Australia and coming second worldwide, just behind Bangkok Airways. Virgin Australia also ranked as the region’s most family-friendly airline and had the highest-rated airline staff in the country.
Australia’s top budget airline, Jetstar, slipped slightly from 75th to 88th place globally. However, it held strong in the best low-cost airlines category, ranking 20th overall. Meanwhile, QantasLink – the regional brand of Qantas – propelled into the global top 100, landing in 97th place for 2025. You can check out the full global rankings here, or see a snapshot of our region below.
These are the best airlines in the Australia-Pacific region for 2025
- Qantas Airways (14th globally)
- Air New Zealand
- Fiji Airways
- Virgin Australia (34th globally)
- Jetstar Airways (88th globally)
- QantasLink (97th globally)
- Air Tahiti Nui
- Air Tahiti
- Air Niugini
- Aircalin