Airline and airport review and ranking site Skytrax released its list of the cleanest airlines for the previous year. Topping the list was Japan’s All Nippon Airways, which was named the cleanest airline in the world at the Skytrax World Airline Awards 2018.
The ranking of 30 airlines was dominated by carriers from Asia. Following All Nippon Airways were EVA Air of Taiwan in second place, South Korea’s Asiana Airlines in third, Singapore Airlines in fourth, Japan Airlines in fifth and Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways in sixth. Carriers from other regions that ranked highly included Qatar Airways in seventh, Swiss International Air Lines in eighth and Air New Zealand at twentieth.
The list was compiled from passenger survey responses assessing the cleanliness of specific areas aboard aircraft, including seats, tray tables, carpets, lavatories and overhead bins. According to Travelmath, the tray table is often the dirtiest surface on a plane, potentially harboring more than 2,100 colony-forming units per square inch.