Ho appreso la notizia da a.net e non nascodo la mia sorpresa. :astonished:
LONDON, UK - updated 26th July 2011
Airline research organisation, SKYTRAX, say the latest 2011 Star Rating analysis sees Virgin Atlantic Airways cut to a 3-Star Airline status, reflecting a decline in quality levels
Edward Plaisted, Chairman and CEO of Skytrax said: "Virgin Atlantic has been a long-standing 4-Star Airline, and was well known for many pioneering product and service initiatives during it's history. More recently they seem to have undergone an image building exercise with glossy advertising, but the projected standards are just not being delivered to customers at this time, and our audit analysis is pointing to the fact that Virgin Atlantic are currently suited to 3-Star Airline ranking."
"Monitoring quality across more than 250 airlines worldwide, we are careful not to allow an Airline Rating to be impacted by any very short term quality changes" added Plaisted, "but we have seen the decline in service quality and many product areas to be too prolonged over the last 12 months with Virgin Atlantic to defer this final review to 3-Star Airline ranking. From a personal viewpoint it is also a sad moment, because Virgin Atlantic Airways was the first airline that Skytrax used as a Competitive Benchmark back at our inception in 1989."
"The airline market has undergone massive change in recent times, and during a period when many European airlines have been slow to modernise their customer products and service concepts, we have witnessed the continued and rapid dominance from carriers in the Middle East and Asia. Some of the most rapid change is happening in the Chinese airline industry, which has been able to invest in new aircraft fleets together with achieving rapid and sustained improvements in customer service quality. In contrast, we have seen an air of almost complacency amongst European airlines towards some quality issues. Whilst they have been subject to greater financial pressure from rising oil costs and reduced consumer spending power in local markets, the airline industry is a global business, and our primary role at Skytrax is to ensure that a fair and equitable Quality Ranking is applied to airlines across the globe" added Plaisted.
Star Ranking winners and losers ..
The most recent Airline Ranking changes have also been announced by Skytrax, which sees Russia's Transaero Airlines elevated from a 2-Star Rating to 3-Star Airline status. Transaero Airlines has continued to introduce many changes over the past 12 months, and this has resulted in being upgraded from a 2-Star to 3-Star airline say Skytrax.
Also on an upward trend is Tianjin Airlines, "an airline most consumers will probably have never heard of" said Edward Plaisted. It is a Chinese regional airline operating a modern fleet of Embraer 190 and A320 aircraft, connecting 90 different cities across China, and with clear ambitions to develop its network on an international basis. Part of the HNA Group - which includes 5-Star Hainan Airlines and 4-Star Hong Kong Airlines - Tianjin Airlines was a new entrant to the Star Ranking programme in 2011.
Slipping from 4 to 3-Star Airline status is Germany's second largest airline, Air Berlin. This downgrading can be traced to the takeover of LTU some years ago, which opened up long haul markets for Air Berlin, but also brought with it some ageing aircraft products. Whilst Air Berlin is set to introduce new Boeing 787 in the future, Skytrax added that the Star Ratings have to reflect real-time standards, and the present product offerings do not fulfil 4-Star requirements.
Air China has also been upgraded to the official 4-Star Airline ranking, recognising the significant and sustained improvement in Air China onboard product and service, as well as changes to airport product and service levels.
Air China introduced their new Boeing 777-300 and A330 products in July 2011, that offer passengers in First and Business Class the latest high quality flatbed seating, as well as AVOD entertainment across all cabin classes. By the end of 2011 over 40 per cent of the Air China long haul fleet will be equipped with their new product standards, rising to over 70 per cent during 2012
LONDON, UK - updated 26th July 2011
Airline research organisation, SKYTRAX, say the latest 2011 Star Rating analysis sees Virgin Atlantic Airways cut to a 3-Star Airline status, reflecting a decline in quality levels
Edward Plaisted, Chairman and CEO of Skytrax said: "Virgin Atlantic has been a long-standing 4-Star Airline, and was well known for many pioneering product and service initiatives during it's history. More recently they seem to have undergone an image building exercise with glossy advertising, but the projected standards are just not being delivered to customers at this time, and our audit analysis is pointing to the fact that Virgin Atlantic are currently suited to 3-Star Airline ranking."
"Monitoring quality across more than 250 airlines worldwide, we are careful not to allow an Airline Rating to be impacted by any very short term quality changes" added Plaisted, "but we have seen the decline in service quality and many product areas to be too prolonged over the last 12 months with Virgin Atlantic to defer this final review to 3-Star Airline ranking. From a personal viewpoint it is also a sad moment, because Virgin Atlantic Airways was the first airline that Skytrax used as a Competitive Benchmark back at our inception in 1989."
"The airline market has undergone massive change in recent times, and during a period when many European airlines have been slow to modernise their customer products and service concepts, we have witnessed the continued and rapid dominance from carriers in the Middle East and Asia. Some of the most rapid change is happening in the Chinese airline industry, which has been able to invest in new aircraft fleets together with achieving rapid and sustained improvements in customer service quality. In contrast, we have seen an air of almost complacency amongst European airlines towards some quality issues. Whilst they have been subject to greater financial pressure from rising oil costs and reduced consumer spending power in local markets, the airline industry is a global business, and our primary role at Skytrax is to ensure that a fair and equitable Quality Ranking is applied to airlines across the globe" added Plaisted.
Star Ranking winners and losers ..
The most recent Airline Ranking changes have also been announced by Skytrax, which sees Russia's Transaero Airlines elevated from a 2-Star Rating to 3-Star Airline status. Transaero Airlines has continued to introduce many changes over the past 12 months, and this has resulted in being upgraded from a 2-Star to 3-Star airline say Skytrax.
Also on an upward trend is Tianjin Airlines, "an airline most consumers will probably have never heard of" said Edward Plaisted. It is a Chinese regional airline operating a modern fleet of Embraer 190 and A320 aircraft, connecting 90 different cities across China, and with clear ambitions to develop its network on an international basis. Part of the HNA Group - which includes 5-Star Hainan Airlines and 4-Star Hong Kong Airlines - Tianjin Airlines was a new entrant to the Star Ranking programme in 2011.
Slipping from 4 to 3-Star Airline status is Germany's second largest airline, Air Berlin. This downgrading can be traced to the takeover of LTU some years ago, which opened up long haul markets for Air Berlin, but also brought with it some ageing aircraft products. Whilst Air Berlin is set to introduce new Boeing 787 in the future, Skytrax added that the Star Ratings have to reflect real-time standards, and the present product offerings do not fulfil 4-Star requirements.
Air China has also been upgraded to the official 4-Star Airline ranking, recognising the significant and sustained improvement in Air China onboard product and service, as well as changes to airport product and service levels.
Air China introduced their new Boeing 777-300 and A330 products in July 2011, that offer passengers in First and Business Class the latest high quality flatbed seating, as well as AVOD entertainment across all cabin classes. By the end of 2011 over 40 per cent of the Air China long haul fleet will be equipped with their new product standards, rising to over 70 per cent during 2012