Skytrax Publishes World’s Top 100 Airports. Where Does Your Favorite Airport Rank?

This week Skytrax published their list of “The World’s Top 100 Airports 2020.”

Personally, I don’t put a lot of stock into Skytrax ratings because their methodology is questionable.

Additionally, it’s worth noting that one of the primary ways that Skytrax makes money is providing consulting services. In other words, airports (and airlines) pay Skytrax to rate them. Although the company denies this influences any decisions, you can see where there may be some conflict of interest…but everybody gotta have a hustle so it is what it is.

Regardless, consumers love airport (and airline) “ratings,” the ratings are worn as a badge of honor, and travel brands are proud to promote them in their marketing strategies.

I find their ratings to be entertaining and generally on point so I thought it would fun to cover a lighter subject rather than the next airline that is going out of business due to the pandemic.

THE WORLD’S TOP 10 AIRPORTS 2020

I’m going to focus on the Top 10 because 100 can be overwhelming. If you’re interested in the entire list CLICK HERE.

Generally, the Top 10 airports shift positions but rarely change too much from year to year.

If you’re based in the US and searching for your home airport (or any airport in the US for that matter), you’ll have to scroll down quite a bit as there is not a single US airport in the Top 30.

But the Top 10 are as follows:

1. Singapore Changi (ranked #1 in 2019)
2. Tokyo Haneda (ranked #2 in 2019)
3. Doha Hamad (ranked #4 in 2019)
4. Seoul Incheon (ranked #3 in 2019)
5. Munich (ranked #7 in 2019)
6. Hong Kong (ranked #5 in 2019)
7. Tokyo Narita (ranked #9 in 2019)
8. Centrair Nagoya (ranked #6 in 2019)
9. Amsterdam Schiphol (ranked #14 in 2019)
10. Kansai (ranked #11 in 2019)

To ensure you don’t get carpal tunnel from scrolling so far down, here is a list of the Top 10 airports in the US (and their ranks)…

• Houston George Bush (rank #31)
• Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky (rank #34)
• Denver (rank #37)
• Atlanta (rank #41)
• San Francisco (rank #54)
• Seattle-Tacoma (rank #56)
• Houston Hobby (rank #67)
• Los Angeles (rank #75)
• New York JFK (rank #77)
• Minneapolis St. Paul (rank #81)

FINAL STAMP

In general, the Top 3 deserve to be where they are. They are phenomenal airports! However, the rankings become a bit more questionable after that.

For example, although I did not list it, London Heathrow is ranked #12. I think that is a stretch. Personally, I wouldn’t rank Heathrow in my Top 50. In fact, I actively avoid Heathrow during my personal travel but it’s challenging because it’s a major hub.

Regarding the US airports, I find Cincinnati surprising. I haven’t flown out of or transited through Cincinnati in years so I may add that to my list of things to do because they are clearly doing something well.

Are you surprised by the rankings? Is there an airport that you think should be ranked higher or lower?