Wellington Airport ‘better than Changi’

Singapore’s Changi is widely acknowledged as the best airport in the world.

It has won that accolade seven years in a row at the World Airport Awards.

But at least in one new survey, it falls short. And falls behind a plucky Kiwi underdog: Wellington Airport.

Stasher has compiled a list of the best airports with some surprising results. Stasher is a luggage storage network. It has collected data from over 100 airports and then rated each over eight criteria – Google reviews, quality of restaurants and food, access to shops, number of lounges, the likelihood of ontime flight, airport hotel quality, the shortest distance to city centre, and finally, cheapest parking. Each category was marked out of 10. But it has led to a few more unusual names in the top 10.

In first is Sheremetyevo Alexander S Pushkin International in Moscow, Russia’s busiest airport. It scored a perfect 10 for on-time flights and cheap parking, although access to shops was a woeful 0.65. Its final score was 6.5.

In second is London’s Heathrow. Great for lounges (10) and quality of food (8.64) but not brilliant for shop access (1.85), giving it an average of 6.46.

Down in 12th is the first Kiwi airport. Wellington’s proximity to the city centre is its best feature with a high score of 8.80, and the quality of nearby hotels also does well at 8.13.

Access to shops is an Achilles heel with 1.02. The lounges get 2.11. Still, its average of 6.21 pips 13th-placed Changi, which scores 6.20.

Christchurch finished in 26th place, with Auckland 55th.