After months of staff shortages, cancelled flights and long queues at Schiphol, it’s hardly surprising that the airport has seen its position in the 2023 World Airport Awards fall by 14 places. The airport did, however, still manage to secure a rather impressive 29th place. 

The World Airport Awards 2023

Compiled by the UK-based consultancy firm Skytrax, the World Airport Awards have taken place annually since 1999 and assess customer service and facilities across over 500 airports around the world. Passenger experiences across 40 key airport services - such as check-in, transfers, transportation, security, and retail services - are gathered and compared through the airport customer satisfaction survey.

This year’s ranking saw Singapore Changi Airport rise from third place to first, making it the best airport in the world according to Skytrax. Hamad International Airport in Doha and Tokyo Haneda International Airport rounded out the top three. Some European airports did manage to score spots in the top 10 - namely Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, Munich Airport, and Zurich Airport.

Schiphol Airport no longer one of the best in the world

Unlike its European neighbours, Dutch airports had a fairly poor showing in this year’s edition of the World Airport Awards. Sadly - but certainly not surprisingly - Schiphol Airport fell 14 places, from 15th place in 2022 to 29th place in 2023. 

In spite of this, however, the airport managed to perform well in some of the individual, more specific rankings. At the awards ceremony in March - which this year was held in Amsterdam - the city’s airport once again received the award for Best Airport Website and Digital Services, and achieved spots in the top 10 in both the Airport Dining Experience and Airport Leisure Amenities rankings. Finally, Skytrax named the Hilton at Schiphol Airport the best airport hotel in Europe.

That Schiphol saw its position plummet in this year’s edition of the Skytrax ranking isn’t surprising - indeed, it’s perhaps impressive that the airport didn’t see its ranking fall even further. Over the past year, the Netherlands’ biggest airport has been plagued by severe staff shortages across a variety of departments, and has been forced to implement caps on passenger numbers in order to limit the disruption and queues at check-in and security.

Top 10 international airports in 2023

According to the results of the 2022 / 2023 airport customer satisfaction survey, the top 10 airports in the world are:

1. Singapore Changi Airport
2. Hamad International Airport (Doha)
3. Tokyo Haneda International Airport
4. Incheon International Airport (Seoul)
5. Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport
6. Istanbul Airport
7. Munich Airport
8. Zurich Airport
9. Tokyo Narita Airport
10. Madrid Barajas Airport

For more information about the ranking, visit the Skytrax website.

Thumb: Nigel Wiggins via Shutterstock.com.