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World Airport Awards: These are officially Europe’s best airports in 2026

The results of the Skytrax World Airport Awards have landed, with four European hubs ranking among the world’s best

Grace Beard
Written by
Grace Beard
Travel Editor
Fiumicino International Airport Terminal 1 in Rome, Italy
Photograph: Markus Mainka / Shutterstock
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Singapore’s Changi Airport, home to a ‘forest valley’ and the world’s tallest indoor waterfall, has once again been named the best in the world by Skytrax’s annual World Airport Awards

This is the fourteenth win for the airport, which last year served nearly 70 million passengers. Asian hubs filled out the rest of the top five, with Seoul Incheon coming in second place and Tokyo Haneda coming in third.

Notably, Doha Hamad Airport – last year’s second-place winner – is missing from this year’s ranking, after the airport pulled out of conferences, awards and events due to the ongoing Middle East conflict

Singapore - Apr 9, 2023: Jewel Changi Airport is building is filled with attractions, indoor waterfall and tropical forest, shopping malls and dining area. The Vortex is the largest indoor waterfall
Photograph: Shutterstock

The best airports in Europe 

Four European airports ranked among the best in the world this year: Paris Charles de Gaulle, Rome Fiumicino, Istanbul and Munich. Here’s where they landed in the top 10.

The Skytrax World Airport Awards 2026 winners

  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

How are the winners decided?

The ‘Oscars of Aviation’ recognises hubs across the planet for outstanding customer satisfaction, based on a comprehensive survey of travellers, which this year ran from August to February.

Travellers were asked about every aspect of the airport experience. It’s quite the deep dive – questions range from the friendliness of airport staff to cleanliness, entertainment options and even the availability of luggage trolleys. 

Over 575 airports were assessed to determine the final ranking.

Other winners

Alongside recognising the best of the best, Skytrax doles out awards across a variety of categories. Tokyo Haneda topped the list of the world’s cleanest airports, Houston Airport got the gold for best airport art and Seoul Incheon was named the most family-friendly airport.

See Skytrax’s website for the full list of winning hubs.

Did you see that the world’s happiest countries have been named for 2026?

Plus: The underrated capital named Europe’s ‘best creative city destination’.

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