Top 5 European Airlines

Flying can either by an incredible experience or an incredibly stressful experience depending on a number of factors. The most significant of these factors is which airline you decide to travel with. In Europe, we are fortunate enough to have a huge number of different airlines at our disposal, from budget flights that get you from A to B for just a few pounds, to heavyweight players who guarantee all sorts of luxuries.

Sometimes the destination you want to travel to will only have one or two carriers that service it. In this case, your airline choice is pretty much made for you. However, as is much more often the case, there may be several airlines for you to pick from. If you’re faced with this kind of decision, then you should know a bit about the airlines rather than just blindly choosing. Here are our five favourite European airlines to help get you started.

Lufthansa

Passengers and the media are constantly praising this German airline and if you take a flight with the company you’ll see why. The product really is top of the range and while it is not a budget airline, you get what you pay for. The service is exceptional, the seats are comfortable and the airline’s premium classes are utterly divine. In fact, Lufthansa won an award for having the best first class dining – you know you’re doing well when even the dreaded plane food is good.

Aeroflot

It might surprise you to see this notorious company on the list of best European airlines. But, Aeroflot have come a long way since its early days and has dramatically improved its commercial offering. The planes are infinitely safer and the pilots are no longer ex-soviet fighter jet pilots, but instead correctly trained commercial captains. The airline was even named number one in Eastern Europe.

Swiss International Air Lines

This airline is just a baby, having only launched in 2002 from the remnants of what was SwissAir. The airline is part of the Lufthansa family so it should come as no surprise that it meets the standard of its big brother. The staff has been lauded for its smiles and accommodating nature and the comfort level seems satisfactory at least. Of course, the jewel in the crown on these flights is the complimentary Swiss chocolate that is given out at the end of the flight.

Norwegian

Based out of Oslo, this European airline has finally given travellers the chance to fly trans-Atlantic without forking out huge sums of money. Recently, Norwegian took the limelight in the aviation world thanks to its introduction of low cost flights from Europe to New York. You would think that a flight of that distance for such a small price would come with a few inconveniences, but the airline is remarkably classy. The seats are comfortable, the stewards are willing to go above and beyond and the food is pretty good – although you will have to pay extra for it.

Air France

France has certainly had a few hiccups recently, particularly due to labour and finance issues. However, this doesn’t seem to have had any long-lasting effects on the airline, which has now wowed the world with the unveiling of its new first class suites known as “La Premiere”. The ultimate in aviation luxury, these suites have certainly given this European airline the boost it needed to cement its position in the top five airlines on the continent.