SIA is sole Singapore company among Fortune’s top 50 admired firms; Wilmar also makes list

[SINGAPORE] National carrier Singapore Airlines (SIA) ranked first among its peers in the airline industry on Fortune’s 2026 World’s Most Admired Companies list.

The survey assessed nine criteria, including quality of management, innovation and global competitiveness.

The other airlines within the top five on the list are Delta Air Lines, Air France-KLM Group, United Airlines Holdings, and Lufthansa Group.

Across global companies, SIA ranked 24th 2026. This position is up by four spots, from 28th place last year.

The airline is now second-highest-ranked Asian company, just after Japanese car brand Toyota Motors in 23rd place.

Its position came ahead of major global multi-national corporations such as Nike, Starbucks, Accenture, Visa, Samsung, Mastercard and UPS.

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SIA is also the only Singapore-based company to feature in the top 50. Agri player Wilmar International is a Singapore-listed name which made the list, too. It fell shy of making the top 50 companies, but it ranks fourth on the list within the global food production sector.

The top 10 companies in the global list entail a mix major players, mainly in technology and financial services: Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, JPMorgan Chase, Berkshire Hathaway, Costco Wholesale, Alphabet, Walmart, and American Express. 

The 2026 survey was conducted across 3,380 executives, directors and securities analysts internationally, who selected the 10 companies they admire most across industries.