Cathay Pacific Airways named world's best airline

More than 18.85 million travelers have spoken, and they’ve voted Hong Kong’s flagship carrier Cathay Pacific Airways the world’s best airline for the fourth time.

Airline passengers from 160 countries participated in the annual Skytrax World Airline Awards this year and helped Cathay bump last year’s winner, Emirates, from the top spot.

Cathay also took the title in 2003, 2005 and 2009.

Last year’s winner, meanwhile, took a tumble to fourth place, coming in after Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines which came in second and third place respectively.

The results were unveiled at the Farnborough International Airshow in the UK.

Of note: The top 10 list is absent of any North American airlines and is dominated by Middle Eastern and Asian carriers.

One reviewer on the Skytrax airline review forum gave Cathay a perfect score for his "exceptional" flight between Hong Kong and London that included a solid six hours of slumber in comfortable seats and a “superb” in-flight menu that featured lamb shoulder confit.

“Overall a great journey and my new favourite airline for business class."

Over the last four years, the carrier has invested $4.9 billion HK ($632 million USD) in cabin makeovers.

Passengers traveling first class enjoy seats that can transform into lie-flat beds with thicker mattresses, and luxury Ermenegildo Zegna amenity kits for men and Trussardi amenity bags for women.

Seats in economy class have also been refurbished with a cradle mechanism in the seatback that allows for a six-inch recline. That translates to more legroom and overall space.

Seats come with personal touchscreen TVs, power supplies for charging portable devices and extra storage space.

Here are the world’s top 10 airlines, as voted by flyers between August 2013 and May 2014:

1. Cathay Pacific Airways
2. Qatar Airways
3. Singapore Airlines
4. Emirates
5. Turkish Airlines
6. ANA All Nippon Airways
7. Garuda Indonesia
8. Asiana Airlines
9. Etihad Airways
10. Lufthansa