Air Asia named ‘World’s Leading Low-Cost Airline’ by World Travel Awards
AirAsia director Datuk Aziz Bakar posing with his company's stewardesses at Doha.
PETALING JAYA: An international travel award has named local budget carrier Air Asia the "World's Leading Low-Cost Airline" this year.
According to the World Travel Awards website, Air Asia beat eight other budget flight nominees worldwide to get to the top of the low-cost airline list.
Surpassing companies such as the British-based easyJet and the US-based Southwest Airlines, AirAsia was also named "Asia's Leading Low-Cost Airline".
In a statement on Sunday, Air Asia executive chairman, Datuk Kamarudin Meranun said: "It is a great honour to win this award, as this places ‘brand Malaysia’ on a great pedestal so that we can achieve our mission to develop the country into a major aviation hub like Dubai."
He added that the company was going to turn 12 in a few days, Kamarudin expressed pride over what he called "a Malaysian-grown dream" that turned into a "world-class airline".
"As a home grown airline, we feel responsible to propel our nation’s aviation industry further, and we would need the support of our government and Malaysians alike to achieve that," he said.
Air Asia director Datuk Aziz Bakar received the award on behalf of his airline.
Air Asia was previously nominated under the awards' 2012 World's Leading Low-Cost Airline, 2010 World's Leading Airline to Asia and 2007 Asia's Leading Budget/No Frills Airline categories.
The awards also saw national carrier Malaysia Airlines beating 11 other conventional airlines in Asia for "Asia's Leading Airline 2013" award.
Malaysia Airlines previously won the same title in 2011, 2010 and 2009.
It was also nominated for the "World's Leading Airline 2013" but lost to the United Arab Emirates' Etihad Airways.
World Winners 2013
It is with a great pleasure that we announce the winners of the 20th World Travel Awards, voted by travel agents worldwide. The 2013 World Travel Award Winners for World are:
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