Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has been named "World's Leading Airline to Asia 2011" by the "World Travel Awards" for the second year running. The Award to the national airline, as voted by travel professionals worldwide, was presented at a gala event held in Doha, Qatar.

According to a press release, the ceremony marked the culmination of a year long search for the very best travel and tourism brands in the world, including a head-to-head competition amongst earlier announced World Travel Awards' regional winners for the coveted "world-level" accolade.

For the World Travel Awards programme in 2011, a phenomenal 213,000 industry professionals participated in the online voting process that was strictly monitored and independently audited.

In the "World's Leading Airline to Asia" category, MAS was up against seven other major airlines including Singapore Airlines (SIA), Thai Airways International (Thai Airways) and Cathay Pacific Airways (Cathay Pacific).

Earlier, MAS had been a big winner at the Asia and Australasia regional awards competition held in Bangkok at the end of September. It won its recognition as "Asia's Leading Airline 2011" and "Asia's Leading Airline Lounge 2011" for the Golden Lounge at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). Head of customer experience, Dato' Salleh Ahmad Tabrani received the "World's Leading Airline to Asia 2011" award for MAS at the Doha ceremony. He was accompanied on-stage by the MAS team of cabin crew, airport operations and ramp services.

Dato' Salleh said, "The international recognition is a great honour for the whole Malaysia Airlines team that consistently does its best to serve our guests. The win is a timely morale booster for our team as we prepare to bring our service delivery and customer experience level up to a higher benchmark as part of making MAS the Preferred Premium Carrier."

MAS chief executive officer (CEO), Ahmad Jauhari Yahya affirmed that the recognition was an important element in the airline's initiatives to "win back customers" as outlined in the MAS business plan.