Airline review site Skytrax has named the best airlines of the year – based on surveys of passengers – at the Paris Air Show.

Qatar Airways beat Singapore Airlines to first place in the 2011 rankings, rising from third place, while Asiana dropped from the top of the table to take third place.

Cathay Pacific won fourth place in the overall rankings, while Thai Airways took fifth and Etihad took sixth at the awards, which were announced June 22.

The Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai has been voted the best hotel in the Middle East for the eighth year in a row.

The plush property was one of a host of winners at this week’s World Travel Awards‘ Middle East ceremony, the first in a whistlestop World Travel Awards tour which will see further regional ceremonies in Antalya, Turkey; Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt; Bangkok, Thailand and Montego Bay, Jamaica before the year is out.

Also picking up prizes in the competition, billed as “the Oscars of travel,” were Emirates, Etihad and Qatar, the region’s leading airlines.

Qantas has again been lauded for its on-board wine selection at the annual Cellars in the Sky Award ceremony, held February 3 in London.

The Australian flag-carrier, which took four awards last year, won a total of six at this year’s airline wine tasting event, including Best First Class White, First Class Red and First Class Sparkling, as well as Best Business Class Cellar, Best First Class Cellar and Consistency of Wines Across Business and First Class.

The competition has been running since 1985 to determine the highest quality fine wines available in Business and First Class on board the world’s flights.

Chinese carrier Hainan Airlines has become the seventh airline in the world to win a five-star rating from airline reviewer Skytrax.

The prestigious ranking is awarded by Skytrax and is the highest rating an airline can achieve, signifying a “truly consistent and high quality of Product and Service.”

Hainan Airlines was the first mainland Chinese airline to be awarded four star status in 2009 and was elevated to five star last week, with exceptional rankings in long haul business and economy classes and short haul first class service.

Qatar Airways has topped a list of “best-dressed” airlines conducted by airfare comparison site Skyscanner.

The airline’s “retro-look” uniforms won the votes of 33 percent of respondents to Skyscanner poll, which was timed to coincide with London Fashion Week last week.

Air France‘s uniforms, designed by Christian Lacroix, came second place with 17 percent, while British Airways came in third with 15 percent.

Austrian Airlines has topped a list of the best business class in-flight wines from US-based Global Traveler magazine.

It beat Qatar Airways by only 0.28 of a point to take the award, which the magazine said “was not dependent on one or two high-scoring blockbusters pulling the rest of its wines into the winner’s corner.”

Instead, the wines selected by Austrian’s 55 sommeliers scored consistantly highly across all categories, with its Champagne, both its white wines and one red wine all placed in the top ten lists for their respective categories.