LONDON: Singapore’s Changi Airport has reclaimed its spot at the top of Skytrax’s
annual ranking of the world’s best airports.
Skytrax, a UK-based airline and airport review and ranking site, compiles its list by
surveying travelers from across the world and asking them to rate the entire airport
experience from check-in to departures and everything in between.
Singapore Changi Airport previously topped Skytrax’s list for eight years running, but in
2021 and 2022 dropped a couple of spots down the list as passenger numbers fell
during the pandemic, with Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, taking the top
gong instead.
“Singapore Changi Airport has always been a perennial favorite with travelers, and of
course slipped down during Covid-19 when operations were cut back drastically,”
Skytrax’s Peter Miller told.
Miller says Changi airport “offers something for everyone,” and suggests that is a “key
driver” of its continuing popularity.
Some of Changi’s charms include a spectacular 40-meter-tall (around 130 feet) indoor
waterfall, a butterfly garden and an IMAX cinema not to mention more than 280 retail
and dining outlets, perfect for killing time during a layover.
“Singapore Changi is primarily a transit airport, and from the customer feedback, the
airport performs well because it offers such a wide range of facilities and amenities for
all types of customers – families, business and leisure travelers are all well catered for,”
says Miller.
Hamad International Airport, which this year earned the second place in Skytrax’s list,
also offers amenities designed for transiting travelers including city tours for those
spending more than eight hours waiting for their connecting flight.
This year, Skytrax’s 2023 top five was rounded out by Tokyo’s International Airport,
known as Haneda, (number three), Incheon International Airport (number four) and
Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport (number five).
Skytrax also hands out other awards, including regional prizes, with Changi Airport
nabbing the gong for Best Airport in Asia, as well as winning World’s Best Airport Dining
and World’s Best Airport Leisure Amenities.
Changi’s on-site hotel, the luxurious Crowne Plaza Changi Airport, was crowned world’s
best airport hotel for the eighth consecutive year.
Meanwhile, second-place Hamad International Airport also won World’s Best Airport
Shopping, Best Airport in the Middle East and Cleanest Airport in the Middle East, while
third-place Tokyo Haneda Airport was crowned the overall cleanest airport.
