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South Korea's Asiana Airlines has been named airline of the year at the World Airline Awards after close to 18 million customer votes.

More than 40 airlines from around the world gathered for the annual World Airline Awards on the 20th of May, 2010. The winners were selected by the industry’s most discerning judges – the customers.

More than 17.9 million air travellers from over 100 nationalities took part in the 10 month survey that formed the basis of the awards, which are considered the most respected in the world, and the only truly global, independent passenger survey of airline standards.

South Korea’s Asiana airlines took out the top prize of Airline of the Year, followed by Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways. Air Canada won Best Airline, North America, followed by Continental Airlines and Delta Airlines.

Virgin Atlantic won the best Transatlantic Airline, followed by British Airways and Lufthansa. No American airline made the top 10 best airlines list in 2010.

The Best Alliance award went to Oneworld, which includes American Airlines, Qantas, British Airways and Cathay Pacific. In winning the award, Oneworld displaced Star Alliance which had been a repeated winner of Best Alliance in earlier years.

he Top Ten Best Airlines in the World For 2010

Passengers vote for the airlines based on 38 different aspects of passenger satisfaction, including the comfort of seating, quality of food, lounges and cabin crew performance. The survey was conducted between July 2009 and April 2010 by Skytrax, which advises the world airline and airport industries.

According to the Skytrax survey, the best airlines in the world for 2010 are:

1. Asiana Airlines

2. Singapore Airlines

3. Qatar Airways

4. Cathay Pacific

5. Air New Zealand

6. Etihad Airways

7. Qantas Airways

8. Emirates

9. Thai Airways

10. Malaysia Airlines

The awards were presented by Edward Paisted, the Chairman of Skytrax. In a statement, Mr Plaisted said Asiana Airlines is clearly meeting and exceeding their customer’s expectations.

“This award represents a true recognition of the front-line product and service that Asiana Airlines is delivering to it's customers, and the award slogan of 'The Passenger's Choice' underlines the fact that Asiana Airlines are succeeding in satisfying the hardest critics – their users."