Asiana Airlines was announced as the winner of "Airline of the Year" by world authority aviation magazine, Air Transport World, which selects the best airline annually.

Air Transport World (Publisher William A. Freeman, III) first gave out the award in 1974. The award is thought of as the Nobel Prize in the aviation transport industry, and is given to the airline with the most outstanding records in all aspects of operations.

This marks an epoch-making event in the 21-year history of Asiana Airlines (President Yoon Young-doo) and also of 60-year history of Korean civil aviation. The award is widely known as the most coveted and valued throughout the aviation transport industry for its unmatched reputation of high professionalism and fairness. Only four countries in Asia have won the prize so far --Singapore Airline, ANA, Cathay Pacific Airline and Japan Airline.

Since its foundation on February 17, 1988, Asiana Airlines has done its best with sustained investment and unstinted efforts under the slogan, "Customer Satisfaction through Top Safety and Best Service" and has been recognized as a high-quality, consistently reliable airline service in the global aviation transport industry. Asiana Airlines has now reached the pinnacle by capturing the "Airline of the Year" Award, which has been bogarted up to now by the world's major airlines. Through this Award Asiana Airlines is now recognized not only as a top global airline, but also contributes to elevating Korea's aviation transport to the global level and leaves noteworthy handprints, perhaps the first on Korea's aviation walk of fame.

Evaluation categories for "Airline of the Year" Award have been set up by Air Transport World as follows: Exemplary Service to the Public, Compiling a Model Safety Record, Innovative in Developing New Markets and Services, A Leader in Applying New Technology to the Airline Industry, Consistent Profitability, and Winning more than two ATW category awards, especially superior safety record.

According to an announcement on the results of a screening by the Air Transport World, Asiana Airlines won top score in IFSD rate with superior reliability in transport and maintenance service through its safe management and programs and also was selected as a Five-Star Airline by Skytrax, a global aviation industry research organization in Britain, was cited for its decisive investment in uplifting facilities for the comfort of passengers with the slogan, "In-Flight Charming Service" as well as introduction of topnotch technology such as RFID, in short, a superior innovative airline, managed to achieve four years of consistent profitability between 2004 and 2007 with a profit of $542 million despite the global monetary crisis and economic slowdown in 2008, achieved a good record through remarkable financial management, and under the 12 categories of the Air Transport World screenings, won a Market Development Award in 1996 and Passenger Service Award in 2001.

Published as a monthly since 1964 by ATW Media Group, under Penton Media, Inc., Air Transport World is a unique, authoritative aviation magazine with headquarters in Washington, D.C. and publishes the World Airline Report annually, which analyzes about 350 airlines around the world and also offers an indepth World Airport Report.

The "Airline of the Year" Award giving ceremony was held on February 17 in the Ronald Reagan building and International Trade Center. Yoon Youngdoo, President of Asiana Airlines, was present to receive the award.