Doha’s Hamad International named world’s best airport
Doha’s Hamad International Airport has been named the world’s best airport by aviation website Skytrax.
It took the top spot from Singapore’s Changi Airport, which was named second-best.
Dubai International rose 10 places to seventh in the best airports ranking, which is compiled using data from the largest annual global airport customer satisfaction survey.
Airports in Bahrain, Riyadh, Muscat, Madinah, Dammam, Jeddah, Abu Dhabi and Salalah followed Doha and Dubai on the regional rankings.
The Skytrax’s World Airport Awards are among the most recognised in the airport industry. The annual ranking is based on passengers’ experiences across 570 airports. Hamad International also picked up awards for the world’s best for airport shopping and being the cleanest in the Middle East.
Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Madinah, which welcomes hundreds of thousands of Hajj and Umrah pilgrims every year, was named the best regional airport in the Middle East.
The Movenpick Hotel in Bahrain was named the best airport hotel in the region, while workers at Bahrain International Airport were voted the best airport staff in the Middle East.
Hamad International was expanded by 50 per cent in 2022 ahead of the hosting of the Fifa World Cup and can now serve 58 million travellers per year.
The expansion included a large indoor orchard, a 10,000-square-metre indoor tropical garden with more than 300 trees and 25,000 plants, sourced from sustainable forests, under a column-free 85-metre grid shell roof.
Asian and European airports dominated the top 10 list. Behind Singapore Changi Airport was Seoul Incheon in third, followed by Tokyo Haneda, Tokyo Narita, Paris CDG, Dubai, Munich, Zurich and Istanbul.
No US airport was among the top 20 airports, with Vancouver being the sole North American representative.