Changi Airport, Terminal 3 (iStock)
LONDON – Singapore Changi Airport is air passengers' favorite travel hub, according to a confidential report cited by The (London) Times Wednesday.
Incheon Airport in Seoul, South Korea, came second -- followed by Hong Kong International, Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates, and Beijing Capital International, China.
Jackson Mississippi was the only US airport to feature in the top ten -- it ranked eighth, while Dallas Love Field Airport was 94th.
Also among the top rated were Pu Deng Shanghai, China, in sixth place, Gimpo International in Seoul in seventh place, Humberside Airport in the UK in ninth place and Kuala Lumpur International in tenth place.
The airport quality data, known as ASQs, are compiled by the trade body Airports Council International and are rarely made public. The international table of the world's 146 principal airports tells the aviation industry how passengers really feel, according to The Times.
Some of the major European airports were close to the bottom of the table. London's Heathrow -- the world's fourth busiest airport -- was in 99th place, with passengers complaining of long security queues and poor "ambience."
Amsterdam Schiphol in Holland was 93rd on the list, Ireland's Dublin Airport 98th, Frankfurt Airport in Germany 126th and Paris Charles de Gaulle five from the bottom at 137th. The Times did not say which airport was 146th on the list.
Meanwhile The Times also obtained scheduling data which showed it now takes 40 per cent longer to fly from Heathrow to Paris, despite more than 30 years of advances in aviation. The journey time -- measured from departure gate to arrival gate -- has increased from 57 minutes in 1979 to between 70 and 80 minutes last year, suggesting that congestion is needlessly delaying flights.
The state of Britain's airport infrastructure prompted 74 business leaders to write a letter to The Times decrying "blighted" airports that were "overstretched, congested and prone to disruption". They claimed the British government's lack of an aviation strategy threatened economic growth because it put a constraint on trade and tourism.
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