Etihad Airways has received the Skytrax “Certified Five Star Airline Rating” after a three month audit of the airline’s global product and service by Skytrax.

A few couple of things about this are interesting:

1. This brings the number of five star airlines in the world to nine: ANA, Asiana, Cathay Pacific, EVA Air, Garuda Indonesia, Hainan, Qatar, and Singapore. Malaysia used to have a five star rating but that was lost.
2. This means of the big Middle Eastern carriers, Qatar and Etihad are five stars and Emirates is four
3. I am a little cynical about the rating system. Why is Emirates the best airline in the world according to Skytrax and only gets four stars? How does that work?
4. Etihad withdrew from the Skytrax rating system in 2014 and 2015 questioning the ratings organisations research methods and conclusions. Now just two years later, Etihad is back and wins five star status.
5. I am less generous to Etihad rating them as the 19th best airline I have flown. I may be flying them again soon so will update my ratings.

What do you think?

Have you flown Etihad? Are they a five star carrier?