Hong Kong airport places fifth again in annual world rankings as Singapore scores four years at the top
Airport also places in top 10 for hotels, shopping, cleanliness and staff service
Hong Kong International Airport has retained its position in fifth place in the annual Skytrax rankings of the best terminals, while Singapore tops the list for the fourth year in a row.
Hong Kong won top honours in the Skytrax World Airport Awards for dining and secured top 10 finishes for its hotels (3rd and 5th), shopping (3rd), cleanliness (7th), and staff service (9th).
In the overall best airport category, HKIA, while still the world’s most profitable, finished fifth – identical to last year – while Singapore’s Changi Airport retained top honours for the fourth straight year, finishing ahead of Tokyo Haneda, Seoul Incheon, and Munich.
Organised by British aviation consultancy Skytrax, the awards were determined by votes cast by air travellers based on 13.8 million questionnaires at 550 airports worldwide.
The Airport Authority, which runs HKIA, delivered HK$8.35 billion in profits, according to latest full year results from 2015/2016. The airport is in the midst of a major expansion to construct a third runway due in 2023 at a cost of HK$141.5 billion.
Last year, the airport handled a record 70.5 million passengers and more than 410,000 flights. Hong Kong also maintained its claim as the world’s busiest cargo hub, handling 4.52 million tonnes in the past year.
Although the airport delivered a strong showing at this year’s Skytrax awards, its own service performance figures for the last financial year show mixed results.
Statistics for baggage delivery – a measure of the last bag to be delivered to baggage reclaim within 40 minutes – fell to 93.7 per cent from 94.5 per cent the year before. Figures for first bag to be delivered to baggage reclaim within 20 minutes rose to 93.5 per cent from 92.8 per cent – the only metric with an uptick in 2016.
In other numbers, the volume of passengers entering and exiting an aircraft by an air bridge fell to 85.9 per cent from 87.3 per cent, despite the authority opening a new midfield passenger terminal with 20 bridges.
Meanwhile figures for passengers clearing security channels in 4.5 minutes or less fell to 98.5 per cent from 99.7 per cent, while for transit passengers, numbers fell to 99 per cent from 99.4 per cent.