Philippines Airlines received the “Four Star Major Airline 2020” rating from the US-based Airline Passenger Experience Association.
“We are elated by this industry recognition. More importantly, we wish to thank our passengers for validating PAL’s brand of service. Their feedback and ideas help us make PAL a more formidable competitor,” PAL president and chief operating officer Gilbert Santa Maria said.
“This accolade will make us work even harder to further improve the overall passenger experience in all our flights,” he said.
This is PAL’s second consecutive award from APEX. Last year, the Filipino airline garnered the association’s “Four Star Major Regional Airline 2019” rating.
PAL’s latest rating is the result of a comprehensive survey of 1.4 million airline customers, conducted through app-generated neutral, third-party passenger feedback collection and insights validated and certified by APEX.
From July 2018 to July 2019, respondents rated key aspects of the inflight experience of nearly 600 airlines, such as seat comfort, inflight meals, cabin service, inflight entertainment and WiFi connectivity.
More than 1.4 million flights were rated by passengers to produce this year’s APEX Official Airline Ratings, recognizing airlines in four categories: global airlines, major airlines, regional airlines and low-cost carriers.
To cement its place as one of the world’s airlines recognized for quality service, PAL pursued various initiatives such as the introduction of a brand-new fleet of high-technology aircraft, the expansion of its flight route network featuring more convenient nonstop routes to key global centers and tourist markets and the rollout of service innovations such as an all-new premium economy cabin and upgraded business and economy class products on its long-haul aircraft.
“Only a small, single-digit percentage of these airlines reached the prestigious APEX Four Star Airline status,” APEX chief executive Joe Leader said.
“All of us at APEX take extraordinary pride in giving full power to airline passengers as the ultimate source of validated truth in airline ratings worldwide,” he said.
PAL surged to a global ranking as the 30th Best Airline in the World in June, thus earning the World’s Most Improved Airline Award from the London-based Skytrax rating organization.
The same rating body certified PAL as a four-star global airline for the first time in 2018.
