World's best airport for 2023: Melbourne takes top spot for Australia as Sydney's slide continues

Singapore Airlines opened its upgraded lounges at Changi in mid-2022.

Singapore's Changi Airport has regained the title of the world's best airport, taking out the top spot in the World Airport Awards.

Changi dropped to third place in 2022 behind Qatar's Doha International and Tokyo's Haneda, but won 2023's award for the 12th time.

Locally, Melbourne Airport surged into the top 20, climbing to 19th place, up from 26th last year. The airport was also named the best in the Australia/Pacific region. Sydney Airport continued to slide, dropping to 49th in the top 100 rankings, down from 41st last year and 28th in 2021. Brisbane Airport dropped from 22nd to 23rd.

Melbourne Airport's bottleneck at Terminal 3 has been mitigated by moving passengers through the upgraded security facilities in Terminal 4.

Changi's 12 wins are a record since the airport awards began in 1999. The airport also took out the 2023 awards for Best Airport Dining, Best Airport for Leisure Amenities and Best Airport in Asia.

Lee Seow Hiang, chief executive of Changi Airport Group said the award was great recognition for the airport's team "who stood firmly together to battle the challenges of COVID-19 over the past two years. We thank them for their dedication to serve Changi's passengers and the perseverance to keep Singapore connected to the world".

Singapore Airlines reopened its lounges at the airport in mid-2022 after a $50 million upgrade. The airport's Terminal 2 is currently being expanded. When completed in 2024 it will increase the airport's capacity by five million passengers per year, for a total of 90 million.

The major hub has recovered to about 80 per cent of its pre-COVID passenger numbers and expects to return to 100 per cent by 2024. In 2022 Australia was the biggest passenger market for the airport, with more than four million passenger movements between the two countries. The other top markets were India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

Melbourne Airport chief executive Lorie Argus said its ranking as Australia's best airport recognised improvements made in terminal facilities, airfield infrastructure and staff training.

Argus said the airport had listened to traveller feedback as part of its changes.

"They've told us about where we need to improve," she said. "For example, we've invested more than $40 million upgrading our toilets and restrooms, which have gone from being one of our biggest cause of complaints to one of our biggest sources of pride. Our new toilets feature upgraded family rooms, all gender restrooms, changing places (adult change) and assistance animal relief areas."

"We've also removed two of our biggest passenger bottlenecks in Terminal 3 by linking it with Terminal 4, consolidating the security checkpoints and introducing the latest screening technology."

The World Airport Awards, run by air travel research firm Skytrax were announced at the Passenger Terminal Expo in Amsterdam overnight. The rankings are based on passenger satisfaction surveys that cover check-in, arrivals, transfers, shopping, security, immigration, and departure.

The world's top 20 best airports for 2023

1. Singapore Changi
2. Doha Hamad
3. Tokyo Haneda
4. Seoul Incheon
5. Paris CDG
6. Istanbul
7. Munich
8. Zurich
9. Tokyo Narita
10. Madrid Barajas
11. Vienna
12. Helsinki-Vantaa
13. Rome Fiumicino
14. Copenhagen
15. Kansai
16. Centrair Nagoya
17. Dubai
18. Seattle-Tacoma
19. Melbourne
20. Vancouver

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