Turkish Airlines took first place among European airlines in the regional ranking of the World Airline Awards 2026 of the international organization Skytrax, published on September 18.
Air France took second place among European carriers, and Lufthansa took third place. Next came Iberia, Virgin Atlantic, Swiss International Air Lines, British Airways, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Austrian Airlines and Finnair.
Thus, the ranking of the ten best airlines in Europe is as follows: Turkish Airlines, Air France, Lufthansa, Iberia, Virgin Atlantic, Swiss, British Airways, KLM, Austrian Airlines and Finnair.
Skytrax also published separate rankings by region of Europe.
In Western Europe, Air France took first place, Lufthansa came in third, — Virgin Atlantic. In Northern Europe, Finnair became the leader, followed by SAS Scandinavian and Icelandair.
In Southern Europe, the first place was also taken by Turkish Airlines, the second by Iberia, the third by Vueling Airlines.
In Central Europe, the Polish LOT Polish Airlines led the rating. Wizz Air took second place, Croatia Airlines took third. For Ukrainian passengers, these carriers are of particular practical importance, since after the closure of the civil airspace of Ukraine, a significant part of international flights are carried out through the airports of neighboring European countries.
In Eastern Europe, the Latvian airBaltic became the leader of the 2026 rating. Air Serbia was in second place, Georgian Airways was in third place. The top five also included Bulgaria Air and Romanian TAROM.
World Airline Awards are formed on the basis of an international survey of passengers. The 2025/2026 study was conducted from September 2025 to August 2026 and covered more than 300 airlines. The respondents represented more than 100 nationalities.
