The winners of Skytrax’s 2026 World Airport Awards have been revealed, with Singapore Changi coming out on top for the second straight year.
Moving up from fourth spot in 2025, Seoul Incheon placed second in the overall standings, followed by Tokyo Haneda, Hong Kong (up from 6th) and Tokyo Narita airports.
Rounding out the top ten hubs were Paris CDG, Rome Fiumicino, Istanbul (up from 14th), Munich and Vancouver (up from 13th).
Placing 21st, though down from 16th last year, Melbourne Airport was named the best airport in the Australia-Pacific region, finishing ahead of Brisbane (40th), Sydney (52nd), Auckland (54th), Perth (58th), Adelaide (72nd) and the Gold Coast (81st).
Other notable achievements among Aussie airports included a seventh place for Sydney for airports with 40-50 million passengers, a fourth for Melbourne for hubs with 30-40 million passengers, a sixth for Brisbane for airports with 20-30 million passengers, a sixth and seventh respectively for Auckland and Perth for gateways welcoming 10-20 million passengers, and fourth and fifth places respectively for Adelaide and the Gold Coast for airports with 5-10 million passengers.
Melbourne Airport, which was named best in Australia for the sixth time in seven years, said it wouldn’t rest on its laurels as it plans a massive expansion project in the coming years.
“We’re incredibly proud that travellers continue to rate us as the best airport in our region, but we want to be even better,” Melbourne Airport CEO Lorie Argus said.
“We’re processing record international passenger numbers through the same amount of immigration kiosks we had a decade ago while still requiring travellers to fill out a paper arrivals card, which has to change as we edge closer to welcoming the world to Australia for the Brisbane 2032 Olympics.
“Last month we unveiled details of a $4.5 billion international terminal expansion, and passengers will start noticing changes from September when we open our new Pick up and Drop off zones for Terminals 1, 2 and 3.”
Top teams
When it comes to the world’s Best Airport Staff award, Tokyo Narita took top spot, while Adelaide finished first in Australia-Pacific ahead of Brisbane and Melbourne airports.
“The Best Airport Staff award is particularly meaningful to us. Our vision is to be everyone’s favourite airport – seamless, connected, easy – and everyone who works at the airport plays a big part in bringing that to reality,” Adelaide Airport Managing Director Brenton Cox said.
The South Australian gateway also picked up the award for best regional airport in Australia-Pacific for the fourth time in five years.
“We’ve had a strong year in 2025 with record passenger numbers and a record number of international carriers,” Cox remarked.
“Our passenger numbers in 2025 reached 9 million for the first time, led by more than 20 per cent growth in international passenger numbers.”
The World Airport Awards winners were revealed at a glitzy gala at the Passenger Terminal Expo World 2026 in London on Wednesday night.
The Skytrax awards are based on a global passenger survey conducted over eight months, assessing the full airport experience from check-in and security to shopping and boarding.
World’s Top 20 Airports 2026
- 1 Singapore Changi
- 2 Seoul Incheon
- 3 Tokyo Haneda
- 4 Hong Kong
- 5 Tokyo Narita
- 6 Paris CDG
- 7 Rome Fiumicino
- 8 Istanbul
- 9 Munich
- 10 Vancouver
- 11 Helsinki-Vantaa
- 12 Centrair Nagoya
- 13 Dubai
- 14 Riyadh
- 15 Vienna
- 16 London Heathrow
- 17 Amsterdam Schiphol
- 18 Fukuoka
- 19 Zurich
- 20 Bahrain
Best Airports in Australia/Pacific 2026
- 1 Melbourne
- 2 Brisbane
- 3 Sydney
- 4 Auckland
- 5 Perth
- 6 Adelaide
- 7 Gold Coast
- 8 Nadi
- 9 Christchurch
- 10 Wellington
Best Regional Airports in Australia/Pacific 2026
- 1 Adelaide
- 2 Gold Coast
- 3 Christchurch
- 4 Wellington
- 5 Darwin
- 6 Cairns
- 7 Canberra
- 8 Hobart
- 9 Papeete
- 10 Alice Springs
Best Airport Staff in Australia/Pacific 2026
- 1 Adelaide
- 2 Brisbane
- 3 Melbourne
- 4 Perth
- 5 Auckland
- 6 Sydney
- 7 Nadi
- 8 Gold Coast
- 9 Christchurch
- 10 Wellington
KARRYON UNPACKS: For travel advisors, airports are increasingly part of the journey, not just the gateway. Rankings like Skytrax show how much travellers notice the experience before they even board a flight.
