Virgin Atlantic has been named the strongest brand in the Travel & Leisure sector of Business Superbrands 2009, while British Airways fell 28 places in the survey.
Virgin moved up from 28th place in 2008 to 25th place overall, while BA plummeted from 8th to 36th.
Stephen Cheliotis, chairman of the expert council & CEO, The Centre for Brand Analysis, said: “British Airways has had some high profile problems and certainly its fair share of negative publicity.
“Nevertheless the strength of its brands – built up over many years – has meant that the flying public have given the airline the benefit of the doubt and continued to trust it, rating its brand highly.
“However, our research suggests that the more discerning business professionals might have had enough. After another turbulent year, including the T5 debacle, the airline has for the first time fallen out of the Business Superbrands Top Ten.
“This is a worrying sign for an airline that is heavily reliant on its business customers, and with competition for flyers at an all time high, and pressure on airlines so intense, clearly a reduction in the brand value of BA could in financial terms be significant
“If advocates become critics, and flyers that might have chosen BA by default consider exploring alternatives, BA could experience even more headaches in the coming year.â€
The nine highest rating airline brands are as follows. Their ranking in the overall survey is in brackets.
1. VIRGIN ATLANTIC (25)
2. BRITISH AIRWAYS (36)
3. EMIRATES (68)
4. SINGAPORE AIRLINES (78)
5. EASYJET (308)
6. QATAR AIRWAYS (318)
7. BMI (413)
8. SWISS (430)
9. FLYBE (454)
Internet giant Google secured top ranking overall for the second year in a row.
Leading their sub-categories were Hertz (Automobile Rental), Hilton (Business Hotels), NEC Birmingham (Conference Centres), Compass Group (Corporate Catering), and Eurostar (Train & Bus Operators).
In the coporate travel agencies section, Hogg Robinson came first followed by Portman Travel. Their overall rankings in the survey were 267 and 442 respectively.
The survey of the UK’s strongest business brands, compiled by The Centre for Brand Analysis, is based on votes on by an independent and voluntary Expert Council and more than 1,500 individual business professionals.
By Bev Fearis
