Do you have plans to travel more this year? As an experienced traveler, you might prefer destinations that facilitate the best experiences ever—starting from the kind of welcome you can get when you arrive at the airport.
This is why it is a must that you check out this year’s Skytrax World Airport Awards, which lists the best airports in 15 categories, ranging from the cleanest to most leisurely and even to most improved.
Asian airports dominate the top 10 list of world’s best airports for 2018, with Singapore’s Changi Airport at the No. 1 spot for the sixth consecutive year. The list below lists the best airports and compare rankings in 2017:
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The World’s Top 10 Best Airports |
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|
Rank |
2018 |
2017 |
|
1 |
Changi Airport (Singapore) | Changi Airport |
|
2 |
Incheon Int’l Airport (South Korea) |
Tokyo Int’l Airport |
|
3 |
Tokyo Int’l Airport, Haneda (Japan) |
Incheon Int’l Airport |
|
4 |
Hong Kong Int’l Airport |
Munich Airport |
| 5 | Hamad Int’l Airport (Hamad, Qatar) |
Hong Kong Int’l Airport |
|
6 |
Munich Airport (Germany) |
Hamad Int’l Airport |
|
7 |
Chubu Centrair Nagoya (Japan) | Chubu Centrair Nagoya |
| 8 | London Heathrow Airport |
Zurich Airport |
|
9 |
Zurich Airport (Switzerland) | London Heathrow Airport |
| 10 | Frankfurt Airport (Germany) |
Frankfurt Airport |
NAIA among most improved airports
For the Philippines, this year’s list is more special because its very own national airport, Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) located in the country’s capital made it to the list of the most improved airports globally (at No. 10).
In the past several months, the airport’s operator, the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) has been rolling out various programs and schemes to improve the facilities within the air hub along with the service provided by its hired personnel. In a recent news briefing, the agency said it would strive harder to keep on improving for the benefit of arriving and departing travelers.
Here’s the complete list of the most improved airports worldwide:
- Rome Fiumicino
- Perth
- Calgary
- Taiwan Taoyuan
- Athens
- Nadi
- Montreal
- Moscow Sheremetyevo
- Houstpn Intercontinental
- Manila
Other lists
If cleanliness is your priority, you should check out the list of the world’s cleanest airports:
- Tokyo Haneda
- Centrair Nagoya
- Incheon
- Taiwan Taoyuan
- Singapore Changi
- Tokyo Narita
- Hong Kong
- Zurich
- Doha Hamad
- Helsinki
The world’s best airport terminals are as follows:
- London Heathrow – T2
- Munich – T2
- Singapore Changi – T3
- London Heathrow – T5
- Tokyo Haneda – International terminal
- Madrid – T4
- Dubai – T3
- Paris CDG – T2-M
- Mumbai – T2
- Baku Heydair Aliyev Airport – T1
The world’s best airport staff service can be enjoyed in the following hubs:
- Incheon
- Tokyo Haneda
- Taiwan Taoyuan
- Centrair Nagoya
- Singapore Changi
- Hong Kong
- Kansai
- Narita
- Amsterdam
- Vienna
The world’s best airports for shopping:
- London Heathrow
- Singapore Changi
- Hong Kong
- Doha Hamad
- Amsterdam
- Incheon
- Dubai
- Rome Fiumicino
- Paris CIDG
- Frankfurt
If you love dining at airports, this list will help you:
- Hong Kong
- Singapore Changi
- Incheon
- Tokyo Narita
- Doha Hamad
- Munich
- Houston Intercontinental
- Vienna
- London Heathrow
- Rome Piumicino
How the lists were derived
London-based research company Skytrax bases its annual lists and awards on relative yearly comparison of quality performance in various product and service categories by all airports as featured in its World Airport Survey.
This year, over 13 million travelers from more than a hundred countries participated in the poll conducted by Skytrax from August 2017 to February 2018. The survey covered up to 550 airports globally and evaluated traveler experiences—from check-in to arrivals, transfers, security, and immigration, among others. The questionnaires were made available in English, Chinese, and Spanish languages.
The 2018 Skytrax World Airport Awards was held on March 21 at the Passenger Terminal Expo in Stockholm, Sweden.