Here are the world’s best airports for 2023

Singapore’s Changi Airport has been named the “Best Airport in the World” for the 12th time.

The city-state’s airport reclaimed the title at the World Airport Awards 2023 announced yesterday by aviation research firm Skytrax.

Changi Airport had previously ranked first in Skytrax’s annual rankings for eight consecutive years from 2013 to 2020, but lagged behind Doha’s Hamad International Airport and Tokyo’s Haneda Airport for the past two years.

Travelers from around the world from more than 100 nationalities took part in the Skytrax survey, which also named Singapore’s Changi Airport as:

• Best airport in Asia
• The best airport in the world – food and
• The best airport in the world – leisure facilities.

Customers rated airports on many factors including shopping, check-in, arrival, transfers, and security and immigration.

Hamad International Airport in Doha took second place, followed by Tokyo Haneda Airport in third place and Incheon International Airport in fourth place. Japan had two airports in the top 10 this year, with Narita International Airport taking ninth place.

The major airports in Paris (5th), Istanbul (6th), Munich (7th) and Zurich (8th) also occupied top positions. All of the airports in last year’s top 10 list reappeared, with the exception of Osaka’s Kansai International Airport, which was replaced by Spain’s Madrid-Barajas Airport (#10).

The Skytrax survey also rated airports on other metrics. The “world’s best airport staff” resides at Seoul’s Incheon International Airport, while China’s Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport has been recognized as “the world’s best improved airport.”

Changi Airport has won more than 660 Best Airport awards since it opened in 1981. The airport is planning to expand the capacity of its Terminal 2 building by 5 million passengers per year and has started modernization work which should be completed by 2024.

Across its four terminals, Changi Airport offers fitness and shower facilities, sleeping areas, a 16-meter high children’s play structure and a swimming pool overlooking a runway.

Terminal 1 is directly connected to the 10-story Jewel Changi Airport retail complex, which features seven themed gardens, a forest valley with more than 2,000 trees and the world’s tallest indoor waterfall.

Skytrax CEO Edward Plaisted said the win was “underscored[s] the airport’s popularity with international air travellers,” he said, who have returned to about 80% of pre-Covid 19 levels.

Correction: This story was updated to correct that Changi Airport topped Skytrax’s annual ranking for eight consecutive years from 2013 to 2020.