Malaysia Airlines has been ranked as ‘5-Star’ airline again by Skytrax, the leading research Advisors to the world’s airline and air transport industry.

The national carrier was assessed by Skytrax’s Quality-Cost-Value-Satisfaction (QCVS) audit, conducted between November and December 2006, with focus on service quality and product delivery as well as customer service on long haul and regional routes.

The QCVS audit covered a number of assessment categories such as seat comfort, inflight entertainment as well as onboard catering and the general efficiency and quality of the staff service.

Commenting on the survey results, the CEO of Skytrax Group, Mr. Edward Plaisted said, “In our latest round of global Star Ranking reviews for the airline industry, Skytrax are delighted to announce that Malaysia Airlines has maintained its 5 Star Airline status for 2007. A 5 Star ranking is the most exclusive Quality award that an airline can receive – this confirmed by the fact that just 3 other airlines in the world have achieved this status.

The Star Ranking awards are based upon the "total" travel experience an airline delivers to its customers. Ranking is not about whether caviar is served in First Class, or inflight entertainment offers 100 different channels - it is the service experience that counts. The friendliness or efficiency of staff on the ground and onboard flights are major elements behind good service ... but in a 5 Star Ranking we look for service standards that you can describe as being truly special.

It is in this service delivery area where we found Malaysia Airlines has a competitive edge - with staff providing service that goes beyond customer expectations.

Our sincerest congratulations go to both the Management of Malaysia Airlines for achieving this exclusive 5 Star Ranking …and most importantly to all their staff that are responsible for delivering a service quality that is recognised by this Award.”

Malaysia Airlines Managing Director/CEO, Idris Jala said, “This award is indeed a timely recognition of our employees’ continuous commitment towards maintaining superior standards in product and services delivery to our customers, both inflight and on ground.”

“I mentioned before that the first year of Business Turnaround 2006 is focused on financial survival, the second year 2007 is on profit generation, 2008 and beyond is on profitable growth. Although we are out of financial crisis, I kept emphasizing to all Malaysia Airlines staff that there is no room for complacency.”

“The competition in the airline industry will continue to intensify. Therefore it is imperative that Malaysia Airlines maintains its high level of product and service quality so that Malaysia Airlines continues to retain its premium customer business.”

“This year, one of our Key Business Activities (KBA) is to further improve our Customer Value Proposition (CVP). As part of our CVP initiative we launched the MH campaign which stands for Malaysian Hospitality. This is the intrinsic aspect of our offer that sets us apart from our competitors. It captures the true spirit of Malaysia Airlines where all our customers are treated as special guests. Moving forward, we will strive to carry out the 125 CVP initiatives which impact our customer services across the organization from purchase to disembarkation,” he added.

Skytrax* Research of London, UK is an independent organization with 13 years of experience in airline service research. Its survey results are published on the web page www.airlinequality.com.

The Skytrax “Quality Certified” status is the ultimate global service excellence accolade that can be bestowed upon an airline and is well recognized by industry professional and consumers throughout the world. The 5-star airline ranking is the "ultimate" approval, awarded to airlines with the highest quality performance.

Malaysia Airlines received its first 5-star airline recognition from Skytrax for 2005. There are only 4 airlines which have been given such recognition namely Malaysia Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines.

The 5-Star ranking certification is applied and reviewed annually by Skytrax, following the detailed audit analysis of each airline's product & service quality levels. Ratings are not associated with Consumer surveys.