Changi regains best airport crown; Philippines not in top 100 list

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine airports failed to make it to the top 100 list of the world’s best airports for this year, according to the 2023 World Airport Survey.

According to the 2023 World Airport Awards conducted by air transport research firm Skytrax, Singapore’s Changi Airport is this year’s best airport.

Changi Airport was followed by last year’s best airport, the Doha Hamad.

Trailing Changi and Doha Hamad airports were Tokyo’s Haneda, Seoul’s Incheon and Paris’ Charles de Gaulle.

Rounding up the top 10 airports in the world are Istanbul, Munich, Zurich, Tokyo’s Narita and Madrid’s Barajas. Philippine airports also did not make it to Asia’s top 10 for this year.

Asia’s top 10 airports were Singapore’s Changi, Tokyo’s Haneda, Seoul’s Incheon, Tokyo’s Narita, Osaka’s Kansai, Centrair Nagoya, China’s Guangzhou and Haikou Meilan, Fukuoka in Japan, and Shenzhen in China.

Named as the 10 cleanest airports in Asia are Tokyo Haneda, Singapore Changi, Centrair Nagoya, Tokyo Narita, Hong Kong, Seoul Incheon, Kansai, Fukuoka, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.

Sought for comment, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) spokesman Eric Apolonio told The STAR “results vary as we need to consider survey dates, as travel fever is just now taking off from its pre-pandemic level.” He said there are at least 1,200 international airports worldwide.

“Among the top Philippine airports are NAIA, Clark, Cebu, Davao and Iloilo/Kalibo,” Apolonio said. He said CAAP is doing its part in improving airports, to “be at par with Asian neighbors, like additional night-rated airports and improvements of facilities.”

He underscored that airports in Cebu and Iloilo were named among the top 20 airports in Asia back in 2019, according to another survey.