This Is the World’s Best Airline

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Mar 25, 3:25PM EDT · Published Jul 27, 9:30AM EDT

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Once a year, the website AirlineRatings.com picks the best carrier in the world. The latest award, part of its “Top Airlines in the World,” went to Qatar Airways.

The State of Qatar is one of the world’s smaller countries, based on both population and geographic size. It has about 2.7 million residents and covers about 4,400 square miles. Among its distinctions is gross domestic product per capita, one measure of the wealth of the population. On this basis, the country ranks fourth in the world at $93,800. That is well above the United States with $65,300.
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Qatar’s economy is based almost entirely on natural gas and oil. According to the CIA World Factbook:

Qatar’s reliance on oil and natural gas is likely to persist for the foreseeable future. Proved natural gas reserves exceed 25 trillion cubic meters – 13% of the world total and, among countries, third largest in the world. Proved oil reserves exceed 25 billion barrels, allowing production to continue at current levels for about 56 years.

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Qatar is what is known as an absolute monarchy. Its head, the Emir of Qatar, is essentially a dictator.

Qatar Airways has built itself into a global “hub and spoke” airline, which has at its center Hamad International Airport. It serves over 100 destinations through the airport. Founded in 1993, the carrier has nearly 200 aircraft.

The reason for the rise of the carrier is simple. The extremely rich “government” of Qatar has built it, using billions of dollars of the nation’s energy fortune.

The airline has long been known for its extraordinary service, particularly in first and business classes. AirlineRatings.com said:

Qatar Airways was ranked number 1 because of its cabin innovation, passenger service, and its dedication and commitment to continue to operate throughout the COVID pandemic.

Without the nation’s fortune, its ability to operate at such a high level during the pandemic likely would have been impossible.

Click here to see which airlines from other countries the FAA says are not safe.
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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.