Doha airport overtakes Changi

Doha’s Hamad International Airport has seized the title of World‘s Best Airport from long-time favourite Singapore Changi in the annual Skytrax World Airport Awards. After eight years in the top slot, Changi Airport was relegated to third place behind Tokyo Haneda Airport. “As travel hubs worldwide have been impacted by the pandemic, Hamad International Airport was undeterred by the global travel disruptions and continued with its expansion plans while introducing additional airport health and safety standards,” Edward Plaisted of Skytrax said. Hamad Airport, which opened in 2014, is gearing up for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar in 2022.

Special Covid awards
Skytrax’s annual survey for the Passenger’s Choice Awards was open from August 2020 until July 2021, with many travellers voting for their favourite based on pre-pandemic travel experiences, Skytrax said. It also introduced special Covid-19 excellence awards for airports that rated highly for measures such as cleanliness, enforcement of face masks and social distancing at key points like security and immigration. Amongst the other awards, Istanbul Airport was named the World’s Most Improved Airport in 2021, Munich was the best in Europe and London’s Heathrow Airport was the best in Western Europe.