For business travellers in transit, airport lounges and amenities can make or break the work travel experience. Flight Centre Travel Group’s Corporate Traveller ranks the top airports for lounges and services for international business travellers.
Corporate Traveller clients are increasingly prioritising speed, comfort and productivity over luxury alone.
Corporate Traveller Global Managing Director Tom Walley said: “Our Travel Managers work closely with businesses and business travellers, so they have a deep understanding of what they value most at each stage of the journey.
“Business travellers spend hours in transit and days or weeks away from home, so airports, lounges and other services that have comfort, productivity and efficiency at their core can make all the difference.
“With itineraries tighter than ever, our clients tell us time predictability and knowing exactly how long each airside process will take, now outranks champagne bars and sleep pods.
“That’s why airports investing in biometrics to slash queue times and lounges with purpose-built work pods and guaranteed Wi-Fi bandwidth topped our list.”
Top airport stopovers
The award-winning Singapore Changi Airport tops the stopover chart for its vast airport experiences, landing almost two-thirds of votes from Corporate Traveller’s Travel Manager poll for the most productivity-boosting layover for business travellers.
Dubai International Airport came in at number two with its array of first class, business and family lounges and a focus on rest and relaxation
Meanwhile, Doha Hamad International Airport ranked third, recently celebrated its 10th anniversary and an expansion that will increase capacity to more 65 million passengers annually – timely for the just-launched Virgin Australia–Qatar Airways partnership.
Best international lounges
With fully catered shower spas, complimentary spa treatments, fine dining and dedicated quiet areas, almost half of the Travel Managers polled chose Emirates First Class Lounge Dubai for its focus on getting travellers to their destination refreshed and ready for business.
Qatar Airways’ Al Mourjan Business Lounge in Doha came in second with almost one-third of votes for its two-level, infinity pool-style water feature and dedicated nap rooms.
Qantas First Lounge in Sydney rounded out the top three – praised for the Neil Perry-curated dining plus its showers, spa treatments, meeting rooms and private suites.
Most efficient hubs
Half of the expert panel prioritised fast security and immigration processes, a factor that attracted almost three times as many votes as state-of-the-art lounges, which ranked second.
Singapore Changi’s end-to-end biometric clearance, fully rolled out across all four terminals in October 2024, has slashed average passport-control times from 25 seconds to 10 seconds, a 60 per cent improvement.
Read about Corporate Traveller Travel Managers’ preferred aircraft and cabin classes for business travellers here.
