Air New Zealand, one of the world's safest airlines, was hailed the Airline of the Year by AirlineRatings.com. The popular travel international site has chosen Air New Zealand for its strong financial performance, customer service, operational safety and in-flight innovations.

The travel site praised New Zealand's carrier for its commitment to its fleet and environmental awareness. Air New Zealand earned the distinction of being the best premium economy class.

AirlineRatings was launched in June 2012 and rates airline companies around the world, using a seven-star system. The people behind the ratings are a group of aviation editors with a combined 150 -year experience in the airline industry.

According to the site editor Geoffrey Thomas, Air New Zealand came out as the first airline of choice. After the news broke out, the chief executive of Air NZ, Christopher Luxon, said the award only "reaffirms the hard work" of its staff. Mr Luxon added it was a great start for Air New Zealand in 2014.

Four airlines which offer flights to New Zealand were in the top 5 airlines. Emirates, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines and Australian company Qantas made it to the overall list, following Air New Zealand.

Emirates was named the best in first class accommodation, best in in-flight entertainment and best long haul airline. The airline is based in the Middle East and Africa.

Qantas won awards for best economy class and best lounges. Jet Star remained the best low-cost airline in Asia. Cathay Pacific took best business class while Singapore Airlines was named best regional airline and long-haul airline in Asia.

Second safest airline

Air New Zealand has been named the second safest airline in the world by a top airline travel Web site. Airlineratings.com recognised Qantas, Australia's flag carrier airline, as the safest airline to fly out of 448 airlines from around the world. Qantas was chosen as the safest since the airline has no incident of fatality.

Being one of the safest airlines, Air New Zealand can give passengers the peace of mind and security they need while on the air. According to the travel site, 2013 was the safest year to fly since 1945, with 269 deaths from 29 aircraft accidents.

Following Qantas and Air New Zealand are Emirates in third place, Etihad in fourth and Cathay Pacific rounding up the top 5 safest airlines. British-owned Virgin Atlantic ranked seventh in the list.

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