Swiss Airlines scoop top award

Swiss and Singapore airlines win big at Guardian and Observer Travel Awards

Travel Insurance News - 26/10/2009

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While many airlines were honoured at the 23rd Annual Guardian and Observer Travel Awards, there was one trophy a lot of airlines had their eye on. This year’s coveted accolade was the ‘best short-haul airline’ award.

The award ceremony was held on October 16th in Bangkok and opened by his Excellency the Prime Minister of Thailand. This year the award was bestowed upon Swiss International Air Lines and Gregor Koncilja, SWISS’s country manager for the UK and Ireland took centre stage to collect the award.

In a press statement Koncilja commented that: “We are very pleased to receive another high-profile national award, not least because it highlights the recognition that SWISS is striving to offer the best quality service and product amongst travellers in Britain. The fact that we’ve added a second major UK travel recognition, following the runner up award in this year’s prestigious Conde Nast Traveller reader awards, goes to show that travellers in this country are genuinely starting to appreciate the combination of quality and value for money that our airline offers.”

The votes were collected by the Guardian and Observer newspapers and more than 19,248 readers cast their votes. This makes the victory all the sweeter as Koncilja went on to say that: “It’s good to see such a high number of voters, which goes to show that travel is still a top priority for much of the British public. We do hope that our ongoing efforts to offer low fares and the fact that we’re amongst the only airlines carrying ski equipment for free out of the UK will only serve to increase our popularity.”

Also celebrating were Singapore Airlines, who won ‘best long haul airline’ for the sixth year in a row.

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