HEADLINE NEWS

	Singapore Changi Airport is crowned the World's Best Airport as the 2006 World Airport Awards are announced

Singapore Changi Airport has been named as the World's Best Airport in the 2006 World Airport Awards. As the runner-up for this prestigious title in recent years, Changi Airport takes the top spot for 2006, ahead of nearby Asian rival, Hong Kong International Airport, ranked in 2nd place.

Commenting on the 2006 Airport of the Year award, Mr Wong Woong Liong (Director-General of Singapore Civil Aviation, CAAS) said .... "We are delighted that Changi Airport is named the world's best airport in the 2006 Skytrax survey. Changi has won many best airport awards but the Skytrax award is one which we have not won before. We are therefore very pleased to count this endorsement by Skytrax as an important part of our track record. Changi Airport's constant upgrading in facilities and improvement in services, such as the complete renovation of our Terminal 2 and the launch of a dedicated Budget Terminal earlier this year, has been rewarded with this strong approval from Skytrax global users."

Discussing the 2006 results, Mr Edward Plaisted (Skytrax CEO) said  ... "after another record-breaking level of customer response to this passenger survey, we have over recent months closely monitored the jostling for the winners accolade. This went down to the wire, with Singapore Changi securing top position in the final month of the survey. The total responses for this 2006 study grew by 1.7 million over year-earlier levels, with more than 7.2 million air travellers casting their votes in this survey, making it the world's largest and most extensive assessment of airport standards" .

"Particular praise for the Singapore Changi title as World's Best Airport 2006 is underlined by the fact this is an airport celebrating its 25 year Silver Jubilee in July - and subsequently having to achieve product and service standards that match and exceed competitor airports, many of which are just 5 or 6 years old" said Plaisted.

Amongst survey respondents reasons for their Best Airport nominations, a comment that summarises a much echoed opinion for the 2006 Airport of the Year said .... "Singapore have made the airport experience something to look forward to .... rather than something one normally dreads".

Hong Kong International Airport remained the key title challenger throughout the survey, and with a final voting differential of less than 1,000 nominations between these two airports, one realises the high levels of customer satisfaction that both of these leading global airports enjoy. Airports making it into the Top 10 league of world airports is quite similar to last year's results, although there has been a marked movement within this particular grouping.

Munich Airport continues to impress passengers, being ranked Best in Europe and 3rd in the world for these 2006 results. Particular themes that emerged for the success of Munich in the survey centred around general service efficiency, the ease of transit process, variety of facilities, and ground transportation options.

Osaka Kansai International Airport moves up to 4th position worldwide in 2006, again being very highly rated for ease of communication, terminal cleanliness / presentation, and high standards of staff service across front-line customer service functions.

Seoul Incheon Airport slipped from 3rd (2005) into 5th place for the 2006 results. Whilst highly regarded as a transit airport, and particularly praised for quality of staff service, terminal facilities and cleanliness, it seems that poor ground transportation options and travel times between Seoul Incheon Airport and downtown Seoul were factors that contributed to the fall in ranking for ICN Airport.

KLIA Kuala Lumpur ranked 6th position worldwide, moving up one place on their 2005 ranking. With an efficient ground transportation system in place, the airport was highlighted for ease of transfer process, and also for the more general feeling of space around terminal areas.

One of the smallest airports in the Top 10 ranking is Helsinki Vantaa Airport, placed 7th overall and up from 13th position in 2005. Stylish, efficient, clean and pleasing architecture were some of the most popular terms used to describe the airport experience at Helsinki.

Zurich Airport takes 8th place this year, moving from 15th in 2005. With the past few years having been a time of considerable change across the Zurich Airport terminal facilities, it seems that the end result is continuing to achieve increased levels of passenger satisfaction. Efficiency, speed of processing and a good, balanced range of facilities were frequent reasons supporting the nominations for this airport.

Dubai International Airport is another undergoing considerable change, and whilst maintaining a Top 10 customer satisfaction ranking, it has slipped from 6th in 2005 to take 9th place in the 2006 results. Whilst all airports experience peaks and troughs in terms of passenger traffic through a 24 hour period, Dubai is one airport where standards of passenger experience seem to closely mirror consequent congestion levels through the terminal areas.

Continuing its presence in the worlds Top 10, Copenhagen Airport is ranked 10th, slipping from 9th position in the 2005 results. Praised for staff service efficiency, terminal facilities and general ambience, there was some discontent with changes to transit processes at CPH, that have resulted in slower and more arduous procedures when contrasted to a few years ago.

Looking at regional results, San Francisco (Global rating = 12th) is the top ranked airport in North America, Cape Town (Global rating = 16th) is the Best Airport in Africa, Buenos Aires (Global rating = 86th) is Best Airport in South America, Dubai (Global rating = 10th) is Best Airport Middle East, Sydney (Global rating = 13th) is Best Airport Australia/Pacific, Singapore (Global rating = 1st) is Best Airport in Asia, and Munich (Global rating = 3rd) is Best Airport in Europe.

Peter Miller (Skytrax, Marketing Director) added ...."in a global survey of this scale, it is heartening to see the considerable breadth of passenger opinions, and ratings applied that relate to very different individual requirements of the airport experience. With a substantial business traveller response, it is quite clear that their priorities and demands are often based upon the speed, efficiency and reliability of airport services - be this fast track services, priority service processing, wifi access etc. In contrast, it is often the leisure passengers that expect more from the airport experience - finding oneself with a 5-6 hour transit layover, no access to an airline lounge, and this is when the standard of airport amenities comes under the most scrupulous analysis. Leisure options ... seating availability, general terminal comfort, finding a clean washroom, plus ancillary amenities to enjoy or pass away the time all play an important role in the general travel enjoyment. We congratulate Singapore Changi for being crowned the 2006 victor in satisfying these expectations, and all those airports in the Top 10 world ranking that have clearly achieved the highest standards of customer service during the past year".

  Read more about the 2006 World Airport Awards

23rd May 2006


Notes to Editors

  The 2006 World Airport Awards are based on the World Airport Survey conducted by Skytrax - between September 2005 and May 2006.

  The survey measures more than 40 aspects of passenger satisfaction for airport product and service standards - evaluating the 'typical' airport experience.

  Skytrax do not charge airport operators to be included in the survey, nor are results based on a finite number of airport choices. 

  Passenger interviews covered over 165 airports for this year's study. 

  Worldwide survey interviews totalled a massive 7,208,342 respondents - a 29 per cent increase on the 2005 figures.

  Over 93 different passenger nationalities participated in the survey.

  The World Airport Awards are conducted without any outside sponsorship, and all costs of the survey are funded by the research organisation, Skytrax.

Press and Media enquiries should be directed to:

Mr Peter Miller
Director Marketing - SKYTRAX
Email :  miller@airlinequality.com