Changi Airport no longer world's best airport for the 1st time in 9 years

Eight-year streak broken.

Matthias Ang | August 10, 2021, 01:56 PM

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Changi Airport is no longer the world's best airport.

According to Skytrax, this year, Changi Airport placed third, behind Qatar's Hamad International Airport in Doha and Japan's Haneda International Airport.

It had previously held the top spot for eight years, from 2013 to 2020.

Addressing the Covid-19 pandemic was factored into 2021 World Airport Awards

Skytrax further stated that the 2021 World Airport Awards recognised the efforts of airports in meeting the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

It said:

"The past 18 months (have) been the most challenging and financially difficult period ever experienced by the world air transport industry, and airports have invested to provide the safest possible environment for their customers and staff during the global pandemic."

In addition, this year also saw a new category of awards called the 2021 Covid-19 Airport Excellence Awards, in which customers rated an airport's Covid-19 measures across key categories such as information signage, the enforcement of masks, availability of hand sanitisers and social distancing efforts ,among others.

However, instead of a ranking, Skytrax listed out 39 airports which had received the award in alphabetical order, including Changi Airport.

Changi Airport clinches award for best airport staff, second place for cleanliness

Another award that Changi Airport won was the World's Best Airport Staff.

It also clinched the award for Best Airport serving 10 to 15 million passengers.

However, it placed second for cleanliness, behind Haneda Airport, and fourth for airport security, behind South Korea's Incheon Airport in Seoul, Zurich Airport and Kansai Airport.

The survey for the awards was carried out from August 2020 to July 2021, with most travellers voting for their favourite pre-pandemic travel experiences, and others voting after their Covid-19 airport experience in the past 12 months.

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Top image from Changi Airport Facebook