Brisbane crowned best Australian airport, according to survey

Brisbane has been crowned the best Australian airport, as revealed in the Skytrax World Airport Awards. With this achievement, Brisbane now finds itself at the 16^th position globally – moving one place up from previous year’s rankings.

The Skytrax World Airport Awards take into consideration a global customer satisfaction survey that relies on factors like check-in, arrivals, shopping, transfers, security and immigration. Singapore’s Changi Airport has been recognised as the world’s best airport for the fifth consecutive time.

Among Australian airports, Gold Coast was honoured with the top regional airport in the Australia/Pacific region. It now stands at the 50^th spot internationally, a jump of five positions since 2016.

The Sydney airport was named the 23^rd best airport in the world. At the same time, the Stamford Plaza Sydney Airport was crowned as the topmost airport hotel in the Australia/Pacific region. The Parkroyal Melbourne Airport finished runners-up in the category.

Perth finds itself standing at the 71^st spot globally. Adelaide, in comparison, fell from the 69^th spot to 73^rd spot this year. This makes Adelaide the worst performing among six of Australia’s biggest airports.

Melbourne fell from the 25^th position to the 30^th position this year. This comes as the Andrews Government made a pledge to identify a site for the city’s new airport, which would be an addition to the international airport at Tullamarine and the one at Avalon.

The State Government’s commitment to identify an ideal location for the new airport has been welcomed by the Shire of Cardinia mayor Brett Owen. “Our region will continue to experience significant growth over the coming years and SEM believes the development and operation of an airport will be a major economic and employment driver for our communities,” Owen said. “We also welcome the commitment by the State Government to incorporate a connection to the rail line at Clyde as part of their investigation into possible sites.”

Some of Australia’s other international airports – including the likes of Darwin, Cairns and Canberra – could not secure a berth in the top 100 rankings. Canberra was ahead of the PNG’s Port Moresby airport among the best regional airports.

Internationally, Hong Kong International Airport bagged the first position in terms of airport dining. Meanwhile, London Heathrow was titled the best for airport shopping.

The Skytrax World Airport Awards took into account as many as 13.82 million airport survey questionnaires. Carried out between July 2016 and February 2017, they covered 550 international airports.