UK. Asian airports led by Hong Kong International Airport and Singapore Changi Airport have dominated the top ten rankings revealed in the Skytrax Airport of the Year Survey 2004 this week. The survey suggests that Asian airports understand and deliver better customer service than other airports across the world.
Carried out by the London aviation consultancy Skytrax, the research was conducted over a ten-month period (June 2003 to March 2004), logging 4.8 million eligible entries from over 85 travelling nationalities.
Airports were awarded one to five stars for the quality of their frontline products and services offered to customers. The survey takes into account the types of products offered by a small regional airport compared with a major one. The emphasis across all the star ranking rests on the standards of the “service delivery”, which covers the services delivered by immigration officers, restaurant staff and retail assistants.
The top ten Airports of the Year ranking:
1 Hong Kong International Airport
2 Singapore Changi Airport
3 Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
4 Seoul Incheon Airport
5 Kuala Lumpur International Airport
6 Dubai International Airport
7 Copenhagen International Airport
8 Sydney International Airport
9 Kansai International Airport
10 Munich International Airport
This is Hong Kong’s fourth consecutive win. The airport is new compared to some of the airports in the top ranking, and Skytrax found Hong Kong has the infrastructure and the amenities to reduce the stress of air travel.
Skytrax marketing director Peter Miller said: “The Airport of the Year title seems to have Hong Kong’s name firmly engraved at the moment, with the airport winning this global award for the fourth consecutive year.”
“As a relatively new airport, Hong Kong was particularly praised for its terminal ambience and relative ease of movement, great views, natural lighting with good downtown connections. The added security features, that all airports have to apply, have led to increased waiting times at peak periods. [But] we find that passengers are willing to accept this level of added inconvenience and this was an area where Hong Kong appeared to score well.
“On the downside customers clearly do not take kindly to arriving into airports where immigration processing is clearly inadequate, and in the case of some US airports is downright rude and unwelcoming,” Miller said.
Singapore Changi, a strong contender and a favourite in the early period of the survey, came second. The airport is spending S$420 million (US$ 250 million) redeveloping its terminals one and two to make room for more retail and F&B space.
Amsterdam Schiphol returns to number three from last year’s seventh position. Schiphol now features a one-stop shop at terminal 1, a joint venture between KLM Tax Free Services (Schiphol’s liquor and tobacco retailer) and Kappé International (the fragrances and cosmetics retailer).
Seoul Incheon occupies the fourth position from last year’s sixth. It plans to get 20 more foreign lines to operate out of the airport in addition to the current 50. Incheon wants to get 77 extra routes by 2010 (The Moodie Report, 12 November 2003).
Kuala Lumpur International, Changi’s perennial rival, secured the fifth place, up from ninth in 2003. It has launched a series of in-terminal promotions and competitions in an effort to win popularity with local and foreign travellers.
