World's best airport for 2018 named at Skytrax World Airport Awards

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World's best airport for 2018 named at Skytrax World Airport Awards

By Kylie McLaughlin
Updated
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Singapore's Changi Airport is still the world's best airport, topping the list for the sixth year in a row.

The announcement was made at the Skytrax World Airport Awards held in Stockholm, Sweden on Wednesday.

It's the ninth time Changi has claimed the title since 2000, when the awards were first introduced.

South Korea's Incheon Airport, Tokyo Haneda in Japan, Hong Kong and Doha Hamad rounded out the top five.

But the crown cannot be knocked from Changi, which continues to make improvements to passenger experience, such as the new $944 million Terminal 4, which opened in November last year.

The terminal has a capacity to serve 16 million passengers a year, taking Changi's overall capacity to 82 million and placing it among the world's busiest airports. The terminal covers about 225,000 square metres, which is roughly the size of 27 football fields.

It has a huge LED screen to keep passengers entertained as they pass through security. Once inside, they can buy souvenirs from one of the 62 shops, and there are 19 food and beverage stations, including a "live roti prata station", where a chef will whip up the popular Indian pancake on demand. And if that doesn't keep them entertained, maybe the live theatre production will.

"Project Jewel" is also underway, a giant doughnut-shaped glass dome that will connect terminals 1, 2 and 3 via glass walkways. The five-storey structure is being built over the previous site of Terminal 1's carpark and its central feature will be a large waterfall and indoor garden. The building is scheduled to open in early 2019.

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Changi's win will also be good news for passengers flying Qantas' new route to London via Singapore, which replaces the Dubai stopover this weekend after five years of taking passengers via the Middle East. The first London flight via Singapore takes off from Sydney this Sunday, March 25.

See also: Why Singapore is the perfect stopover city

Qantas, however, is looking to do away with stopovers on their London routes altogether, and has challenged manufacturers Airbus and Boeing to produce aircraft it could fly non-stop to the UK by 2022.

Its first non-stop flight to London takes off from Perth on Saturday evening, and it is hoping to extend this service to Paris and Frankfurt.

Three Australian airports also received gongs at the Skytrax ceremony.

Sydney Airport won best airport in the Australia/Pacific region. Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert admitted that although they've come a long way, there's still more work to be done.

"We've made significant improvements to meet the needs of our customers and to be recognised through this award is humbling.

"It also inspires us to continue to focus on making our customers' experience easier and more enjoyable as they travel."

Perth Airport won best airport staff in the Australia/Pacific region and also scored second place in world's most improved airports.

Melbourne's T4 terminal came in first place for best low cost terminal in the Australia/Pacific region, and third place overall, with both winner and second place going to Japanese airports Kansai and Tokyo Narita.

The World's Top 10 Airports

1 Singapore Changi

2 Incheon

3 Tokyo Haneda

4 Hong Kong

5 Doha Hamad

6 Munich

7 Centrair Nagoya

8 London Heathrow

9 Zurich

10 Frankfurt

The World's Most Improved Airports

1 Rome Fiumicino

2 Perth

3 Calgary

4 Taiwan Taoyuan

5 Athens

6 Nadi

7 Montreal

8 Moscow Sheremetyevo

9 Houston Intercontinental

10 Manila

The World's Best Low-Cost Airline Terminals

1 Kansai – T2

2 Tokyo Narita – T3

3 Melbourne – T4

4 Kuala Lumpur – KLIA2

5 London Stansted

6 Brussels Charleroi

7 East Midlands

8 Luton

9 Berlin Schonefeld

10 Frankfurt-Hahn

The World's Best Airports for Dining

1 Hong Kong

2 Singapore Changi

3 Incheon

4 Tokyo Narita

5 Doha Hamad

6 Munich

7 Houston Intercontinental

8 Vienna

9 London Heathrow

10 Rome Fiumicino

See also: World's best airline for 2017 named as Qantas hits lowest ranking

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