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Virgin Australia has secured Australia’s Most Trusted Travel and Tourism Brand title for a fourth consecutive year, extending a winning streak that now runs from 2023 through 2026.

The result, announced in the 2026 Roy Morgan Trusted Brand Awards, keeps Virgin Australia at the top of the Travel and Tourism category at a time when airline reliability, service recovery and value remain under close scrutiny from Australian travellers.

It is an important distinction: Virgin Australia has not been named Australia’s most trusted brand overall; that honour went to Bunnings in 2026, but it has again led the travel and tourism field.

For an airline operating in an industry where delays, disruption and the occasional baggage mystery can test even the calmest traveller, four consecutive wins amount to more than a pleasant trophy-cabinet problem.

Trust measured, not simply claimed

Roy Morgan’s awards cover the 12 months to June 2026 and are based on its Risk Monitor, an ongoing survey drawing on approximately 1,500 to 2,000 interviews each month.

The research measures trust and distrust in more than 1,000 brands across 27 industry sectors, asking respondents, without prompting, which brands and companies they trust or distrust and why.

Winners must demonstrate market-leading levels of trust while maintaining low or negligible distrust, producing a strong result under Roy Morgan’s key Net Trust measure.

The methodology gives the award somewhat more substance than the usual corporate silverware. Trust, after all, cannot simply be ordered from the marketing department with the new stationery.

Virgin celebrates four-year run

Virgin Australia Chief Customer Officer Andrew Cleary said the fourth consecutive win reflected the work of the airline’s people and the importance of earning customer confidence consistently.

“Being named Australia’s Most Trusted Travel & Tourism Brand for a fourth consecutive year is something the whole Virgin Australia team is incredibly proud of,” said Mr Cleary.

“Trust is something that is earned every day, through the small moments that make a difference to our guests, the consistency of the experience we provide and the way our people show up for them.

“We’re incredibly grateful to the millions of Australians who choose to fly with Virgin Australia, and to our 8,000 team members who work hard to deliver a safe, reliable and welcoming experience. This recognition is a credit to them,” he said.

Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine said Virgin Australia’s result reflected customer perceptions of service quality, value, consistency, reliability and its handling of passengers when travel plans go awry.

“Virgin Australia has continued delivering exceptional service to its customers and is now recognised as Australia’s Most Trusted Travel and Tourism Brand for an unprecedented fourth straight year.

“Virgin Australia’s high level of trust is built upon ‘Quality of service, value for money, consistency and reliability’, ‘Great staff and honest when something goes wrong’, and ‘Their safety record and management of passengers when flights are delayed’ – direct feedback from Australians on why they place their high level of trust in the airline.

“In a challenging international environment, Virgin Australia’s high levels of trust place the airline in a strong position to continue to grow and prosper in a competitive Australian travel and tourism market.”

From challenger to trust leader

The four-year run carries added significance because Virgin Australia first claimed the Travel and Tourism title in 2023, taking the crown from Qantas.

At the time, Roy Morgan said Virgin Australia had built trust through reliability and responsiveness, while Qantas was contending with mounting distrust following operational disruption and declines in customer-service perceptions.

Virgin Australia retained the category in 2024, won again in 2025, and has now completed its fourth consecutive victory in 2026.

The result should also be kept in perspective. Roy Morgan named Bunnings its overall “Best of the Best” Most Trusted Brand for 2026, meaning Virgin Australia’s accolade applies specifically to the highly competitive Travel and Tourism category.

Why trust matters to travel sellers

For travel advisors and the broader industry, the result is worth watching.

Trust is not the same thing as market share, fare competitiveness, network breadth or punctuality statistics. But it remains a valuable commercial asset, particularly in aviation, where customers frequently judge an airline not merely by what happens when everything works, but by what happens when it does not.

Travellers who believe an airline will communicate clearly, treat them fairly and respond properly when plans unravel are more likely to keep that carrier in their consideration set.

That matters to travel sellers, too. Recommending an airline involves more than finding the cheapest available seat; customers often remember who made the recommendation long after the fare has disappeared from the booking engine.

And in aviation, where the best journey can often be the one in which nothing particularly memorable happens, dependable service remains a remarkably effective piece of brand theatre.

Roy Morgan recognised 22 category winners in its 2026 Trusted Brand Awards, with the research company stressing that enduring trust coupled with keeping distrust under control remains a distinguishing characteristic of Australia’s strongest brands.

For Virgin Australia, the latest result delivers a neat headline of its own: four years at the head of Australia’s travel and tourism trust rankings, and counting.