Singapore Changi Airport Is Still the Best in the World — and It's Trying to Become Even Better

It will surprise no one to learn that the world’s best airport was voted, once again, Singapore Changi.

Skytrax voted the airport famous for its butterfly garden, movie theatre, and swimming pool the best in the world in its annual World Airport Awards for the seventh year in a row. The ranking is determined by travelers voting in a global customer satisfaction survey.

Travel + Leisure readers agree, and have voted Singapore Changi the best airport in the World's Best Awards for years.

The Skytrax award comes just a couple weeks before the airport opens its new 10-story attraction, Jewel, which will allow travelers to hike past a waterfall, do some shopping or relax in an indoor forest between flights. “To be voted the World's Best Airport for the seventh consecutive year is a truly fabulous achievement for Changi Airport, and this award continues to underline the airport's popularity with international air travelers,” Edward Plaisted, CEO of Skytrax, said at a ceremony in London this week.

Overall, Asian airports dominated the ranking. The second place winner was Tokyo Haneda, gaining one spot since last year’s awards. Runners up were Seoul Incheon, Doha Hamad and Hong Kong.

However, in a twist, although Singapore Changi may be the best airport, it does not have the best terminal. That honor goes to London Heathrow, specifically Terminal 5. (Heathrow’s Terminal 2 took fourth place.) Tokyo Haneda took the award for world’s cleanest airport and Tokyo Narita had the world’s best airport staff.

U.S. airports did not fare too well in the ranking. The highest-placing U.S. airport was Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson, ranking 36th in the world.