Air New Zealand was voted the eighth best airline in a survey of 15 million travellers, slipping one position from last year's rankings.
Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific were named the best and runner-up respectively in the independent Skytrax 2008 World Airline Awards.
Qantas jumped from fifth place last year to score a place in the top three and claimed the award for best first class lounge.
Skytrax World Airline Award rankings (last year's rankings in brackets): 1 Singapore Airlines (1) 2 Cathay Pacific (3) 3 Qantas (5) 4 Thai Airways (2) 5 Asiana Airlines (12) 6 Malaysia Airlines (6) 7 Qatar Airways (4) 8 Air New Zealand (7) 9 Emirates (9) 10 Etihad Airways (23) AAP reg kk
