During its first year between 1999 and 2000 the World Airport Awards managed to survey over 1 million passengers at airports around the globe to gage their feedback on the facility they were using. Since then, these awards have grown massively and between May 2014 and January 2015 there were over 13 million survey responses for the awards rankings of 2015.
No less than 112 different nationalities furnished their opinions on these surveys regarding 550 airports around the world. The really great thing about these awards is the fact that absolutely no payments are taken from any of the airports and it is completely free of charge to enter. This definitely adds a great sense of credibility to the awards and means that the World Airport Awards are actually one of the most coveted and respected awards in the travel industry.
Passengers are asked to give their opinions on a wide range of issues. These cover everything from immigration, to airport lounges and the ease of passing through check-in. Absolutely all aspects of an airport experience are covered and the results are then collated very fairly to rank airports accordingly.
No great surprises though, the final results for airport rankings are pretty much in line with what you would expect if you have a good idea of the travel industry already. Here is a list of the top 10 to give you an idea of what I mean here:
1 Singapore Changi Airport
2 Incheon International Airport
3 Munich Airport
4 Hong Kong International Airport
5 Tokyo International Airport (Haneda)
6 Zurich Airport
7 Central Japan International Airport (Nagoya)
8 London Heathrow Airport
9 Amsterdam Schiphol Airport
10 Beijing Capital International Airport
Top of the chart, as it has been for many years, is Singapore’s Changi Airport, with Seoul’s Incheon International Airport coming in second place.
It is very interesting to note how 60 per cent of the top 10 airports in the world are based in Asia, with the final 40 per cent being located in Europe. There are no airports in North America or the rest of the world in the top 10 in 2015.
There can be no arguing with these results. As they are gathered by a not-for-profit organisation in the fairest way possible, we can rest assured that these rankings really do reflect what passengers feel around the world.
