V Australia tops airline satisfaction poll ahead of Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines and Qantas

By David Flynn, April 5 2011

Virgin Blue Group CEO John Borghetti is smiling a little more broadly today with the news that V Australia is now Australia's highest-rated airline in terms of customer satisfaction.

A massive 91% of passengers said they were either ‘very satisfied’ or ‘fairly satisfied' with their experiences on V Australia, according to Roy Morgan's latest Airline Satisfaction report for all international airlines flying out of Australia.

V Australia enjoyed an uptick over the past 12 months which sees it sitting a whisker ahead of Air New Zealand's 90% and Singapore Airline's 89% ratings.

Malaysian Airlines is perched at 85% while Qantas is matched at fifth place with Thai Airways (both at 81%), while Cathay Pacific and Emirates share sixth place with 89% each, after Cathay made noticeable gains in the previous year against Emirates' significant slump.

“V Australia is not only expanding its operations but also improving its customer satisfaction ratings" observes Jane Ianniello, Roy Morgan Research International Director of Tourism, Travel & Leisure.

"Its satisfaction ratings are now well ahead of Qantas, which sits in fifth position. The satisfaction rating for Qantas is nevertheless higher than the average for international airlines."

The overall satisfaction rating is a low 75%, a figure which Ianniello says "is pulled down by the low ratings of the low cost carriers such as Tiger Airways, AirAsia X, and Jetstar.”

Virgin Blue Group spokeswoman Danielle Keighery said it was an outstanding result for an airline that had been operating for just two years.

“We know that we deliver an exceptional international product to our guests, but it is gratifying to have this news confirmed in an industry report against airlines that have been in business for more than 20 years."

“Guests continually tell us that it is our cabin and ground crew that put V Australia in a class of its own" Keighery says. "The crew are warm and genuine in their day-to-day service delivery, they are very proud of what V Australia has to offer and it shows.”