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Air New Zealand has been named the best airline in the world by a website that rates carriers on safety and in-flight experience.

The Auckland-based airline has received AirlineRatings.com's top gong for the second consecutive year, beating larger companies and carriers that are synonymous with luxury.

Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways came in second, while Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific rounded out the top three.

On top: Air New Zealand has been voted best airline in the world for the second consecutive year

Etihad was voted best first class thanks to its £12,500 'apartment in the sky', known as The Residence

Australian flag carrier Qantas Airways was named the fourth best airline, followed by Dubai-based Emirates in fifth and Singapore Airlines in sixth.

Taiwan's EVA Air, Cologne-based Lufthansa, Japan's All Nippon Airways and British Airways rounded out the top ten.

The website said it chose Air New Zealand because of its in-flight innovations, record financial performance, operational safety, motivated staff and its focus on the environment.

The airline also won best premium economy class.

Christopher Luxon, chief executive of Air New Zealand, which is entering its 75th anniversary year, said: 'It's been an incredibly exciting year for Air New Zealand and this award recognises the outstanding efforts of our 11,000 employees globally.

Welcome: The award for best economy class went to Thai Airways 

What to watch? Emirates has the best in-flight entertainment, according to the rankings

Qantas scooped up three awards – best lounges, best domestic service and best catering

Airlineratings.com editor-in-Chief Geoffrey Thomas added: 'Quite simply Air New Zealand is an airline of first choice. And given the airline's location and the country's size its performance is even more remarkable.'

Endorsed by the International Civil Aviation Organization, AirlineRatings.com rates the safety and in-flight product of 450 airlines using a seven-star rating system.

For value and safety in the budget airline sector, the website picked Norwegian Air as Europe's best, JetBlue for the Americas, Kulala.com for the Middle East/Africa and newcomer Scott for Asia/Pacific.

Comfort: Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways finished second in AirlineRatings.com's top ten list

For value and safety, the website picked Norwegian Air as the best budget carrier in Europe

Lufthansa was named Europe's best long-haul airline.

Qantas scooped up three awards – best domestic service, best catering and best lounges – while Etihad was voted best first class thanks to its £12,500 'apartment in the sky', known as The Residence, and redesigned first class cabins on its new fleet of Airbus A380 aircraft.

Other winners included Cathay Pacific (best business class), Thai Airways (best economy class), Emirates (best in-flight entertainment) and Virgin Australia (best new world carrier, best cabin crew).