This was published 7 years ago
World's best airport for 2017 named at Skytrax World Airport Awards
By Craig Platt
The world's best airports have been named in the annual Skytrax World Airport Awards and Singapore's Changi Airport has come in at first place for the fifth year in a row.
It's the eighth time Changi has taken out the award since they were first introduced in 2000.
Changi Airport was praised for its vast array of leisure and entertainment facilities and it continues to improve – last year the Crowne Plaza Changi Airport was upgraded and expanded with a 10-storey extension adding 243 rooms, bringing the total room count to 563.
The Crowne Plaza was also named the world's best airport hotel in this year's awards.
Changi is also currently working on its "Project Jewel", which includes the construction of a five-storey structure that will feature a grand indoor garden area with 'green walls' to offset carbon emissions from planes flying overhead, as well as a cascading waterfall, a range of retail shops, leisure attractions and a central communal facility. A multi-storey basement car park will help clear more space for the arrival hall, baggage claim and taxi areas.
Despite a record 58.7 million passenger passing through Changi in the past year, it is not one of the top 10 busiest airports – that title goes to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which serves a whopping 104 million passengers a year.
When domestic passengers are excluded, Dubai Airport is number one with 83 million passengers per year passing through the UAE hub.
Announced at the Passenger Terminal EXPO in Amsterdam, the World Airport Awards are based on 13.82 million airport survey questionnaires completed by 105 different nationalities between July 2016 to February this year. More than 500 airports are covered worldwide and evaluated on traveller experiences, including service and products.
Edward Plaisted, CEO of Skytrax, said the airport winning five times in a row was a "remarkable achievement for Changi Airport, and underlines the airport's popularity with international air travellers".
Despite being ranked number one overall, Changi was only rated the number six cleanest airport in the world. That honour went to Tokyo Haneda in Japan.
No Australian airports managed to crack the top 10 of any of the global categories, but Brisbane Airport was named the best airport overall, as well as having the best airport staff, for the Australia-Pacific region. Gold Coast Airport won best regional airport for the Australia-Pacific.
Asian airports dominated the list, though Europe scored four entries in the top 10, led by Munich Airport at number four.
The World's Top 10 Airports
- Singapore Changi Airport
- Tokyo International Airport (Haneda)
- Incheon International Airport
- Munich Airport
- Hong Kong International Airport
- Hamad International Airport
- Chubu Centrair Nagoya
- Zurich Airport
- London Heathrow Airport
- Frankfurt Airport
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The World's Cleanest Airports
- Tokyo Haneda
- Seoul Incheon
- Centrair Nagoya
- Taiwan Taoyuan
- Tokyo Narita
- Singapore Changi
- Hong Kong
- Zurich
- Kansai Osaka
- Doha Hamad
The World's Best Airport Hotels
- Crowne Plaza Changi Airport
- Pullman Guangzhou Airport
- Hong Kong Sky City Marriott
- Hilton Munich Airport
- Regal Airport Hong Kong
- Langham Place Beijing
- Fairmont Vancouver Airport
- Mövenpick Hotel Bahrain
- Hilton Frankfurt Airport
- Sofitel Heathrow
The World's Best Airports for Dining
- Hong Kong
- Singapore Changi
- Tokyo Narita
- Seoul Incheon
- Doha Hamad
- Kansai Osaka
- Centrair Nagoya
- London Heathrow
- Houston
- Munich
The World's Best Airport Shopping
- London Heathrow
- Seoul Incheon
- Hong Kong
- Singapore Changi
- Doha Hamad
- Dubai
- Amsterdam Schiphol
- Paris CDG
- Frankfurt
- Zurich
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