National flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) retained its title of "the Best Airline in Europe" for the ninth time, receiving a prestigious award from air transport rating agency Skytrax on Monday.

In addition, the airline won two other top awards, including the "World's Best Business Class Catering" and "Best Airline in Southern Europe."

Skytrax World Airline Awards, known as the "Oscars of the Aviation Industry," were announced at an event in London.

"These awards highlight the carrier’s exceptional service quality across its extensive network, underscoring the airline's dedication to providing a seamless and comfortable travel experience for its passengers," Turkish Airlines said in a statement.

Bilal Ekşi, CEO of Turkish Airlines, received the awards at the ceremony and stated: "We are delighted to receive these prestigious awards from Skytrax. Being named the Best Airline in Europe and Southern Europe, and receiving recognition for our business-class catering excellence is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our entire team."

"As the Turkish Airlines family, we would like to thank our valued passengers, who deemed us worthy of these wonderful awards, and the Skytrax team, who put this evaluation into practice."

Edward Plaisted, CEO of Skytrax, said: "We congratulate Turkish Airlines on being named the Best Airline in Europe, which for the ninth time is a remarkable achievement in such a competitive region, and demonstrates that they are a customer favorite. Turkish Airlines repeated successes in earlier years by winning the World’s Best Business Class Catering award. The airline and its catering partner, Turkish DO&CO, should be very proud of this success."

Established in 1933, Turkish Airlines has a fleet of 458 (passenger and cargo) aircraft that fly to 347 destinations in 130 countries.

At the ceremony, Qatar Airways was named the World’s Best Airline and won the prestigious Airline of the Year 2024 title.

After losing its top spot, Singapore Airlines was ranked second in the world for this year. Emirates placed third, ANA All Nippon Airways fourth, and Cathay Pacific fifth out of more than 350 airlines included in the survey results.

Meanwhile, SunExpress, a joint venture of Turkish Airlines and German Lufthansa, was named "Europe's Best Holiday Airline" in 2024 at the same award ceremony, the carrier announced on Monday.

The airline had previously received the "World's Best Holiday Airline" award in 2022.

"SunExpress is delighted to be named 'Europe's Best Holiday Airline' once again," Max Kownatzki, CEO of SunExpress, said.

"This award reflects our commitment to providing our passengers with a high quality and comfortable travel experience."

This year, passengers from more than 100 countries participated in the global survey conducted by Skytrax to measure passenger satisfaction.

Expanding its direct flights to Türkiye in 2024, SunExpress increased its seat capacity by 19% compared to the previous year to meet the demand abroad.

Offering direct flights to more than 200 destinations in 35 countries, the airline added 28 new routes to its flight network this summer and aims to carry 15 million passengers in 2024.