Four Asian airports rank in global top 10


Singapore's Changi airport ranked first for ease of connections to other flights

By Geoff Hiscock
CNN Asia Business Editor

(CNN) -- Passengers rank Singapore and three other airports in Asia among the world's top 10, according to the latest survey by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Singapore's Changi Airport was narrowly beaten for the top spot globally by Dubai, with both business and leisure travellers rating the United Arab Emirates airport best overall for passenger satisfaction.

Denmark's Copenhagen ranked third in the world.

South Korea's new Incheon International Airport made a strong debut to be ranked fourth, followed in the region by Australia's Sydney airport in sixth spot and Hong Kong at number eight.

With less than 15 million passengers a year, Dubai looks to be a beneficiary of the "small is beautiful" view held by many international travellers.

The same goes for Singapore and Copenhagen, both of which fall into the 15-25 million passenger category.

Busiest airports

The world's five busiest airports last year were Atlanta Hartsfield (75.8 million passengers), Chicago O'Hare (66.8 million), Los Angeles (61.0 million), London Heathrow (60.7 million), Tokyo Haneda (58.7 million).

None of them made the top 10 globally, though Atlanta and Heathrow won ratings for airports in the over 40 million passengers a year.

The other airports in the top 10 are Helsinki (No. 5), the new Athens Eleftherios Venizelos airport (No. 7), Bermuda International (No. 9) and Vancouver International at No. 10.

The IATA annual survey, termed Global Airport Monitor, analyzed the perceptions of 80,000 international travellers towards 52 major airports in Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East.

Singapore was rated best for making connections with other flights and had the best shopping facilities in the 25-40 million passengers a year size.

The IATA survey said it found "significant improvements" in the overall service ratings for San Francisco, Dusseldorf, Madrid, Singapore and Vancouver.

New entrants

It said the newly built airports at Incheon (serving the South Korean capital Seoul) and Athens performed "very strongly" in their first year of operations.

Another new entrant, Bermuda, had the best ratings for courtesy and helpfulness of airport staff.

IATA said it added a category this year for mega airports handling more than 40 million passengers a year to recognize the "additional pressures" that these airport operators face.

Atlanta's Hartsfield was rated best in overall passenger satisfaction in this category, while London's Heathrow had the best shopping facilities among mega airports.