Cheers! oneworld is best alliance for wine again

Tuesday, 23 February 2016

Judges at a leading international wine-tasting competition have raised their glasses to oneworld® as the best airline alliance for the wines served in-flight by its member airlines for the seventh year in a row.

The Cellars in the Sky Awards, now in their 30th year, are run by Business Traveller, the multi-national magazine group, in association with the International Wine Challenge. The 2015 awards were presented last night at a ceremony in London, following blind tastings by a panel of four leading experts of hundreds of wines served on longhaul flights by 35 airlines from around the world.

It means oneworld holds both trophies presented to mark the quality of the wines served in-flight by its member airlines, after retaining also the Global Traveler Wines on the Wing trophy late last year. oneworld is also the current holder of eight of the 12 overall “best airline alliance” awards presented internationally.

oneworld’s member airlines also flew high in the Cellars in the Sky 2015 awards, taking three gold medals, eight silver medals, six bronzes and three “highly commended” in the 13 airline categories – more awards than airlines in both other global alliances combined.

The three gold medallists among oneworld member airlines were:

• British Airways for Best First Class White, for its Domaine d’Ardhuy Corton Charlemagne 2009, from Burgundy, France. The airline also walked away with one silver medal.
• Qatar Airways for Best First Class Fortified/Dessert, for its Château d’Yquem 2008 Sauternes, from Bordeaux, France. Qatar Airways also received one silver medal, one bronze and one highly commended.
• Cathay Pacific for Best Presented First Class Wine List. The carrier also gained two silver medals, one bronze and one highly commended.

Among other oneworld members, American Airlines took two silver medals and one bronze, Malaysia Airlines received one bronze medal, and Qantas took home two silver medals, one bronze and a highly commended.

The judges included luminaries from the world of wine Charles Metcalfe, Tim Atkin, Oz Clarke and Peter McCrombie.

For the results in full, see businesstraveller.com

Other “best airline alliance” awards currently held by oneworld include:

• FlightStats’ On-Time Performance Award 2015 for the third time running.
• Skytrax’s World’s Best Airline Alliance 2015 for the third year running.
• Business Traveller’s 2015 Best Airline Alliance, also for the third year running.
• World Travel Awards’ World’s Leading Airline Alliance 2015, for the 13th consecutive year.
• Global Traveler magazine’s 2015 GT Tested Reader Survey Award – for the sixth year in a row.
• Premier Traveler’s Best of 2015 Awards – for the third year running.
• Business Traveler North America’s 2015 Best in Business Travel Awards.
• Trazees’ Favourite Airline Alliance 2015 in its debut awards.