Abu Dhabi, UAE: Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, collected awards for the Airline with the Best Economy Class and Airline with the Best Cabin Crew for the sixth year in a row, at the 2026 Business Traveller Middle East Awards in Dubai on 18 June 2026. The accolades follow a string of wins for the airline this award season, with recognition also coming from the MENA Stevie Awards, the Business Traveller Cellars in the Sky Awards, the Aviation Achievement Awards, and the APEX Best Awards, bringing the airline’s tally to over 30 individual awards from international and regional industry bodies over the past 12 months.
The Business Traveller Middle East Awards are decided entirely by readers, with frequent flyers casting votes based on their own travel experiences throughout the year. A sixth consecutive win for Best Cabin Crew reflects a level of consistency that cannot be manufactured for a single campaign or moment; it is built flight after flight, year after year. For Etihad’s crew, that consistency is rooted in a brand of hospitality drawn from Emirati tradition and culture, characterised by warmth, generosity, and genuine care for every guest. It is this quality, delivered onboard every flight regardless of cabin or route, that keeps travellers voting for Etihad each year.
Etihad’s onboard food and drink offering was a particular highlight this season, with the airline named APEX Best Food & Beverage in the Middle East at the APEX Best Awards, and its Champagne and Red Wine served in its First cabin both awarded Silver at the Business Traveller Cellars in the Sky Awards. Elsewhere, Etihad Cargo was named Cargo Airline of the Year and won Air Cargo Pharma Service of the Year at the Aviation Achievement Awards, while the MENA Stevie Awards recognised the airline’s wider innovation programme, with Gold for its future-ready contact centre, Gold for its global chauffeur service, and Silver for its AI-powered service transformation.
These industry awards carry weight precisely because they are independently judged, whether by seasoned travel journalists, aviation experts, or the travelling public themselves. For Etihad, recognition across five distinct awarding bodies in a single season, spanning customer service, cabin crew, cargo, catering, and onboard luxury, demonstrates that the airline’s progress is being noticed and validated well beyond its own marketing. Each award represents an external benchmark against industry peers, and winning consistently across categories points to an airline whose standards are holding up to genuine scrutiny, not just performing well on a single metric in a single year.
