Singapore’s Changi Airport has dethroned Doha, Qatar’s Hamad International Airport to return to the prestigious top spot globally for 2023.
At the Skytrax awards ceremony in Amsterdam this week, Changi nabbed not only the top position overall, but also took home awards for World’s Best Airport Dining and also World’s Best Airport Leisure Amenities. It was an awards sweep not entirely unfamiliar for the airport, which has previously been named World’s Best a staggering 11 times.
“Changi Airport is honored to be named World’s Best Airport for the 12th time,” said Lee Seow Hiang, CEO of Changi Airport Group. “This recognition is a great encouragement to our airport community, who stood firmly together to battle the challenges of Covid-19 over the past two years.”
The annual airport ranking is compiled by Skytrax and is based on voting by customers, who take part in an annual global customer satisfaction survey that assesses customer service and facilities for 550 airports.
In this year’s awards, the 2021 and 2022 Airport of the Year, Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar took second place globally. It also won three other awards for World’s Best Airport Shopping, Best Airport in the Middle East and Cleanest Airport in the Middle East.
Rounding out the top five airports worldwide were Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, Seoul’s Incheon Airport and Paris’ Charles De Gaulle airport.
Tokyo’s Haneda also took home the award this year for World’s Cleanest Airport, as well as for World’s Best Domestic Airport and the Best Airport PRM and Accessible Facilities. Seoul’s Incheon meanwhile, nabbed additional awards for World’s Best Airport Immigration Processing and Best Airport Staff in Asia.
No U.S. airports made the top 10. However, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport came in at number 18, narrowly making it into the top 20. The next U.S. airport to show up in this year’s rankings was Houston’s William P. Hobby, which sits at 32nd globally. Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport ranked 35th. Next up for U.S.-based airports were Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (46th) and San Francisco International (48th).
Though no other U.S. airports made it into the top 50 globally, LaGuardia Airport’s Terminal B did earn an award for World’s Best New Airport Terminal. The terminal received the recognition on the same day it also received the highest five-star airport terminal rating from Skytrax.
“Our goal at the Port Authority was to completely transform the customer service experience at LaGuardia, from curb to gate, by building a brand-new, world-class airport,” said Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority. “Winning this prestigious award and becoming the first North American airport terminal to receive a five-star rating from Skytrax proves that we have accomplished what many said was once impossible: elevate LaGuardia from worst to best.”
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Source: TravelPulse
