Lifestyle

The world’s best airports for 2017 named – but where does Sydney rank?

Hint: it's not in the number-one spot.
Singapore Changi airport

Singapore Changi airport has been awarded the title of best airport 2017, for the fifth consecutive year. The awards are presented by Skytrax, and first started in 1999.

A record 58.7 million passengers were lucky enough to travel through the best airport in the world in 2016, up 5.9 per cent on 2015. December 23, 2016 was also Changi’s busiest day on record with 202,359 passengers passing through the gates.

The top ten airports are:

1. Singapore Changi

2. Tokyo Intl Haneda

3. Incheon Intl Airport

4. Munich Airport

5. Hong Kong Intl Airport

6. Hamad Intl Airport

7. Centrair Nagoya

8. Zurich Airport

9. Heathrow Airport

10. Frankfurt Airport

Sydney was ranked much further down, in spot 23, which was the same as last year.

The awards are based on a passenger survey, and is based on, but not limited to, the following categories:

~ Getting to and from the airport, ease of access

~ Public transport options, efficiency and prices

~ Taxi availability and prices

~ Availability of luggage trolleys (airside and landside)

~ Terminal comfort, ambience and design

~ Terminal cleanliness, floors, seating and public areas

~ Seating facilities throughout terminals

~ Immigration – queuing times/system

Overall, the survey considers 39 conditions, which can be viewed in full here.

But what makes Changi so great? Firstly (and most importantly) they have a butterfly garden, which is a world first in an airport. For people in transit, there is also a swimming pool with a jacuzzi to freshen up and relax in. The pool is on the rooftop, with a view of the runway.

The attractions don’t stop there, with various gardens, a koi pond and a movie theatre lessening the pain of your stopover.

If this doesn’t make you want to re-route your next flight via Singapore, we don’t know what will.

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