Asia’s supersized yet streamlined airports made a clean sweep of the world’s top airports awards, with Seoul’s Incheon airport crowned Best Airport Worldwide for the sixth year in a row.
The Airports Council International, which represents the world’s airports, polled 300,000 customers from 153 airports worldwide on criteria including cleanliness, check-in efficiency, comfortable waiting areas and clear signage.
The survey is focussed on ‘the customer experience’ at an airport, from the moment of arrival to when they walk through departure gate.
Closely ranked behind Incheon were Singapore’s Changi, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai Pudong.
(For what it’s worth Changi, Incheon and Hong Kong are also the world’s best three airports to sleep in.)
Against such world-beating competition it’s no surprise that no Australian or New Zealand airport got a look-in when it came to choosing the best airports in the Asia-Pacific region.
Dubai was voted the best airport in the Middle East, followed by Abu Dhabi.
The best European airports? Forget about those sprawling mega-terminals: tiny Malta rated best, followed by Portugal’s Porto (which isn’t even the country’s main international airport); then Zurich, Copenhagen and Edinburgh.
Indianapolis, Ottawa and Austin snatched the medals for the best airports in North America, followed by Halifax and Vancouver (yes, three of North American’s five best airports are Canadian).
David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
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