Asia Pacific Aviation: The Winners of 2019, by Travel Radar Correspondent Ankur Deo

And here we go folks, as we witness the dawn of a new decade, here are some airlines that shaped the aviation industry in the eastern part of the cosmos, the gargantuan Asia-Pacific Aviation market, in 2019!

China Southern Airlines, VietJet, Vistara and Singapore Airlines have been recognized as Asia’s leading airlines at 16th annual Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation Awards (CAPA) for Excellence, held in Singapore in November this year.

Image Credits: Chinadaily

1. China Southern Airlines was awarded as the ‘Airlines of the Year’, having recognised as the airline that has had the greatest impact on the development of the airline industry. China Southern keeps growing its operating profit, and its passenger levels remain strong. The airline has grown nearly 9 percent through the third quarter of 2019, despite the regional geopolitical issues affecting demand in 2019. Even after leaving the SkyTeam alliance, China Southern maintains its solid leadership in the region, ensuring that it has a network strong enough to continue to grow profitably.

Image Credits: VietJet

2. VietJet was awarded with the ‘Low-Cost Airline of the Year’. VietJet was selected for its successful growth during the last few years, building up a staggering 44% market share in Vietnam’s domestic market. While expanding rapidly in the South-eastern Asian geography, VietJet has proven its mettle by being sustainable and profitable at the same time. As the airline further plans to expand domestically and internationally, we shall definitely see VietJet more often in the news in 2020!

Image Credits: Livemint

3. Vistara Airlines was awarded the ‘Regional Airline of the Year’. This award is presented to the regional airline which has been the ‘biggest standout’ from a strategic point of view, and demonstrated innovation in the regional aviation sector. Launched in 2015, Vistara’s traffic grew by 30 percent in 2018 to more than 5 million passengers and its seat count is up by 40 percent in 2019. By partnering up with Lufthansa later this year, Vistara has the license for embellishment in the coming while!

Image Credits: AirlineReporter

4. Last, but not the least, Singapore Airlines takes home the ‘Innovation of the Year’ Award! This award recognises the airline, airport or supplier responsible for the most powerful innovation in the industry over the past year. Singapore Airlines (SIA) was selected for its Ultra-Long-Range (ULR) product. Singapore Airlines has invested heavily in ensuring the success of its resumed nonstop flights to the US. The airline worked very closely with Airbus to ensure its A350-900ULRs would be available and fit for purpose to offer travellers the best possible service available. SIA was the first airline in the world to operate the A350-900ULR, configured in a two-class layout, with 67 Business Class seats and 94 Premium Economy Class seats.

What do you think, was there anyone else who deserved any of these positions, perhaps, IndiGo Airlines or AirAsia? 2019 was a lackluster year for global aviation in terms of business and safety (Now, let’s be honest here!). However, few airlines fared way better than others. And so, as we end 2019, we wish these airlines nothing but the best to keep flourishing!

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