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There’s way more to an airport than the mechanics of getting from point A to point B, and the best airports put a lot into making passengers’ journeys as seamless and pleasant as possible.
The Airport Service Quality Awards, announced on Monday, recognize the world’s best airports for customer experience.
Among the most decorated among mega-airports handling more than 40 million passengers annually is Rome’s Fiumicino, which in addition to earning an award for overall quality also received recognition for being clean and enjoyable with dedicated staff.
Singapore’s Changi Airport also received additional honors for its dedicated staff and passengers’ ease in navigating the hub. The airport in Istanbul received honors for being clean and enjoyable in addition to its award for overall quality.
The trade group Airports Council International and travel technology company Amadeus determine award winners based on passenger surveys gathered at the airport on the day of travel. In 2022, some 465,000 surveys were collected.
The surveys look at 30 factors including check-in, ease of navigation, shopping and dining offerings.
“The ASQ program not only measures and benchmarks, but also provides airports of all sizes with an opportunity for continual learning and improvement to reach new heights in customer experience excellence,” said Luis Felipe de Oliveira, director general of ACI World, in a statement.
Overall customer experience, plus new categories
Of the 69 airports that received ASQ awards for overall quality, 24 are in Europe, 22 in the Asia-Pacific region, 11 in North America, five in Latin America or the Caribbean, four in Africa and three in the Middle East.
There’s not a singular winner in a region or airport size bracket; awards were given to the top 20% of airports in each size and region category.
ACI also introduced four new categories this year: airports with the most dedicated staff, easiest airport journey, most enjoyable airport and cleanest airport.
Awards in the new categories went to airports with scores in the top 5% for each region.
The new “most enjoyable” category looks at travelers’ impressions of shopping and dining offerings, the comfort of gate areas, entertainment and leisure options and ambiance.
In total, 75 airports around the world received awards.
Here are the results in select categories:
World’s best large airports
These are the world’s best airports in the top two rungs for highest passenger volume, grouped by region:
Best airports with over 40 million passengers annually
• Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport; Mumbai, India
• Indira Gandhi International Airport; Delhi, India
• Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, China
• Shanghai Pudong International Airport, China
• Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport, China
• Singapore Changi Airport
• Aeroporto di Roma-Fiumicino, Italy
• Istanbul Airport, Turkey
• Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Texas, USA
• San Francisco International Airport, California, USA
Best airports with 25 to 40 million passengers annually
• Gimpo International Airport; Seoul, South Korea
• Beijing Daxing International Airport, China
• Athens International Airport, Greece
• Palma de Mallorca Airport, Spain
• Zurich Airport, Switzerland
• Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport; Michigan, USA
• Minneapolis/St Paul International Airport; Minnesota, USA
World’s ‘most enjoyable’ airports
These are the airports in all regions and passenger volume categories that earned ACI’s new “most enjoyable” awards:
• Aeroporto di Roma-Fiumicino, Italy
• Istanbul Airport, Turkey
• Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia
• Beijing Daxing International Airport, China
• Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport; Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia
• Yogyakarta International Airport; Java, Indonesia
• Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, Serbia
• Milan Bergamo Airport, Italy
• Ankara Esenboga Airport, Turkey
• Quito International Airport, Ecuador
• Queen Alia International Airport; Amman, Jordan
• William P. Hobby Airport; Houston, Texas, USA
• Dakar Blaise Diagne International Airport, Senegal
• Skopje International Airport, Macedonia
• Guayaquil International Airport, Ecuador
• Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport; South Carolina, USA
• Pattimura International Airport; Ambon, Maluku Province, Indonesia
• Fort McMurray International Airport; Alberta, Canada
North America’s best airports
The quality report looks at airports across regions in groupings related to the number of passengers they serve. Here are all of the North American airports that earned Airport Service Quality awards for overall quality:
Best North American airports in all passenger volume categories, from large to small:
• Dallas Fort Worth International Airport
• San Francisco International Airport
• Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport
• Minneapolis/St Paul International Airport
• San Jose Mineta International Airport
• Indianapolis International Airport
• Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport
• Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport
• Gerald R. Ford International Airport; Grand Rapids, Michigan
• Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport
• Fort McMurray International Airport; Alberta, Canada