Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport and Skopje Alexander the Great Airport have been named among the top ten best airports in Eastern Europe for a third consecutive year at the 2017 Skytrax World Airport Awards held in Amsterdam. Belgrade Airport was placed fifth among Eastern Europe’s best airports, retaining its position from last year, while Skopje managed tenth position, down one place from 2016's rank. The category was won by Budapest. No other airport from the former Yugoslavia managed to enter the top ten of any category. Furthermore, no airport in the region was among the top 100 best airports in the world, with Singapore’s Changi Airport taking the title for a fifth year in a row. The 2017 World Airport Awards were based on 13.82 million customer nominations across 105 nationalities of air travellers, and included 550 airports worldwide.
WORLD AIRPORT AWARDS - BEST AIRPORTS IN EASTERN EUROPE
| Position | Airport |
|---|---|
| 1 | Budapest |
| 2 | Tallinn |
| 3 | Kiev Boryspil |
| 4 | Riga |
| 5 | Belgrade |
| 6 | Tbilisi |
| 7 | Sofia |
| 8 | Bratislava |
| 9 | Bucharest |
| 10 | Skopje |
Over the past three years, Belgrade Airport has invested heavily in improving its facilities, with the addition of three new gates, the expansion of its departure lounges, replacement of old air bridges, the overhaul of its business class lounge, opening of new retail space and the installation of a visual docking guidance system for aircraft. The airport is set to complete an overhaul of its Terminal 1 building at the end of next month and will undertake the final stage of the reconstruction of its passenger gates by the end of the year. On the other hand, since opening its new terminal in September 2011, Skopje Airport has been no stranger to awards. Since 2013 it has been named the best airport in Europe handling under two million passengers according to Airports Council International (ACI). With six air bridges and a capacity to handle four million passengers per year, some 110 million euros were invested into the terminal building. Skopje Airport recently redesigned its departure security checkpoints and relocated its duty free shop, as well as its food and beverage units, in order to provide higher quality services and better passenger flow.
WORLD AIRPORT AWARDS - BEST AIRPORTS IN EUROPE
| Position | Airport |
|---|---|
| 1 | Munich |
| 2 | Zurich |
| 3 | London Heathrow |
| 4 | Frankfurt |
| 5 | Amsterdam |
| 6 | Copenhagen |
| 7 | Helsinki |
| 8 | Vienna |
| 9 | Hamburg |
| 10 | Cologne |
The World Airport Awards are considered the most prestigious accolades for the airport industry voted by customers in the largest annual global airport customer satisfaction survey. The evaluation took place between July 2016 and February 2017. It is the third time in the award’s eighteen-year history that two airports from the former Yugoslavia have entered the top ten of any category, which include the world’s best airport, most improved airport, airport with the best staff, best security and best transit airport, to name a few. According to Skytrax, the survey and awards process is independent and guaranteed free of any airport influence or interference in final results. It evaluates customer satisfaction across 39 key performance indicators for airport service and product - from check-in, arrivals, transfers, shopping, security and immigration, through to departure at the gate. The World Airline Awards, also organised by Skytrax, where Adria Airways, Air Serbia and Croatia Airlines have featured among the ten best carriers in Eastern Europe, takes place in July.
WORLD AIRPORT AWARDS - WORLD'S TOP 10
| Position | Airport |
|---|---|
| 1 | Singapore |
| 2 | Tokyo Haneda |
| 3 | Seoul Incheon |
| 4 | Munich |
| 5 | Hong Kong |
| 6 | Doha |
| 7 | Nagoya Centrair |
| 8 | Zurich |
| 9 | London Heathrow |
| 10 | Frankfurt |
Nice. Congrats BEG and SKP.
ReplyDeleteI see Budapest is ranked top. Haven't been there for a long time. What's it like now?
ReplyDeleteis the Malev terminal now lcc terminaö?
DeleteThere is a massive mess at BUD. SkyCourt is there but a part of the Schengen gates were butchered and these tunnels added so that passengers can walk to cheap airlines like FR or W6. Looks pretty disgusting.
DeleteBravo Srbija !
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing we will see ZAG on the list next year with the new terminal opening. Congrats to Belgrade and Skopje.
ReplyDeleteIt's not only about aesthetics. It's about the level of service and the augmented product, as well, including the cost of service, which ZAG is notoriously overpriced at. Let's wait and see.
DeleteWho said that it's only about aesthetics? And regarding the price, what, other neighbouring airports are dirt cheap? All airports are expensive more or less for the travelers.
DeleteAre you for real? ZAG's new terminal has not yet opened so you have to wait for next year. Also, price-wise, it's the most expensive airport in ex-YU for airlines to use.
DeleteIt's not only about aesthetics, don't be so fresh, friški.
DeleteWho votes for this? Airlines or the passengers?
DeleteAlso, what's with the pun try joke? Hit and miss?
Oh come on frishki, it was one of those lame jokes that you have to giggle at least. :D
DeleteCongrats to BEG, I guess all that investment is finally paying off.
ReplyDeleteI like FRA as an airport but I wouldn't really give it the 10th best spot in the world.
Čestitke Beogradu i Skoplju.
ReplyDeleteAlso Zurich being named best European Airport is well deserved.
ReplyDeleteZurich? It is Munich. Actually its always Munich
DeleteWell there you go. When Serbia is picking the concessionaire for BEG they should look at these lists ;) a few of them applied
ReplyDeleteCongrats to BEG & SKP
ReplyDeleteAdmin: MUC is N1. in Europe not ZRH
ReplyDeleteBratislava????
ReplyDeleteBucharest????
Hamburg????
Cologne????
Now really? I was more then one time in those airports, and for sure will not give them much positive reaction. So strange!
you may wanna update your file on BTS. it has a brand new terminal (actually very comparable to SKP- both by size and visually), free internet, excellent connections to both BTS and Vienna.
DeleteI was in BTS many times. Nothing special. Cheap, just few outlets, gates designed for LCC... Most of exYU airports are better than that.
DeleteTbilisi is actually the same airport as Skopje but roughly half the size. I dont understand how the one is placed 5th the other 10th
ReplyDeleteIt's not just about how the airport looks like. It says they are ranked based on 39 categories.
DeleteBelgrade downtown is being massively renovated. I counted about 20 facades being fixed. I guess the city is getting ready for all those Turkish, Israeli and Chinese tourists. Great news for BEG!
ReplyDeletestop it
DeleteStop what? I guess BEG's success bothers many on here.
DeleteSeems even the admin is a bit bothered by it. My message indicating what all is currently being done and is under renovation for the upcoming tourist season, has been deleted. And I don't even eat sandwiches.
DeleteLet me repeat and I hope I don't offend anyone. 160 facades in total being revamped. Whole city quarters like Kosančićev Venac and Savamala are being restored (facades, cobblestone roads, illumination of buildings at night, etc. The grand new fountain on Slavija Square should be finished by May, as well as expansive construction of new Belgrade Waterfront, in the Sava Amphitheater.
Hopefully enough to leave a more positive impression of the city. Belgrade is beautiful, but sadly lost under the thick layer of grime and soot, and now that's changing.
BEG customs are horrible, I arrived on friday with OS DH8 from VIE, they were two female border police in one container talking to each other, while doing ther job.
ReplyDeleteI sad good evening, no reply, good bye, no reply an smashed my serbian passport towards me. For the ones after the baggage claim, no comment.
Have you been to Poland, Germany or the US?
DeleteGermany: TXL,MUC and FRA
DeleteUSA: JFK,ORD and MIA
at least they do their job quiet and professional.
Yeah, TSA and US border control are the very definition of professionalism.
DeleteUSBC has improved at least my experience in lax dfw phl and jfk lately
DeleteBelgrade passport control is pretty standard. They won't greet you with a smile line in Scandinavia, but I've seen far worse, especially in some more developed Western European counties.
DeleteIt's police, what do you expect? For them to chat with you? To ask you how's life?
DeleteIs it really difficult to say hello?
DeleteThe first person that a tourist has to deal with is the passport control!
So be polite and say at least hello...
Stupid mentality...
Come to ZRH and learn!
Actually that's what they do in the Netherlands for instance. I've been once asked how's life, and often greeted with a smile. This is in spite of travelling on exYU passport.
DeleteThe exYU border control is the worst (Slovenes, Croatians for instance, even Macedonians), impolite, grumpy and annoying. You can still do your job and remain polite and friendly.
Actually, I am very happy with Serbian border police, especially at BEG. One officer even allowed me to use their personal cell phone to call someone waiting for me as my battery was drained.
DeleteYeah, sometimes they talk to each other insted of smiling at passengers. Big deal. They are usually quite pleasant, efficient and they open new booths as soon as lines start to form. In my book - more than enough for immigration service at airports.
Oh, and as for NL, the police officer tried to "bait" me like four times to speak Dutch (even though I clearly stated I do not speak the language), suggesting that I work there illegaly. So, let's not generalize.
DeleteThey're rarely giving me the pleasant feeling. While the guys working on customs are really another story - they started to screen much more people and it's ridiculous what type of coments a woman had for the gifts I was carrying for my family .
DeleteWAW PRG are under Central Europe right?
ReplyDeleteright - and BTS and BUD are in Eastern Europe. seems like they split the regions so that every airport could get an award
DeleteOT: Austrian is increasing VIE-DBV to 10 weekly,
ReplyDeletenew morning flights with 319/320s on days 1,3,5,
beginning in high season until end of SUTT.
Seems to be good connections of Intercont flights.
Austrian is also operating again B767-300 on Wednesdays starting in April until end of June.
DeleteI've visited most of these airports and can't get it how Budapest is number one 5 years in a row. While the legacy experience is bellow average, the low-cost one is simply dismal. The link to the city involves a complicated transfer at a dirty and dilapidated station Kobanya-Kispest from where it's another 30 minutes to the airport on a narrow road. Security queues are huge, personnel disgusting, exchange rip-off is sanctioned by the airport authorities and it's the only airport in the world where I had to use tents and tunnels to get on a plane. Celebrating Hungarian gypsy diversity? I didn't understood it was a stunt of the Hungarian tourism board. For me, Tbilisi tops the list. Second would be Bucharest, Belgrade third. Kiev fourth due to its lack of content in the new terminal and then the rest. As bonus i would put Ohrid which is a very pleasant small airport.
ReplyDelete"Celebrating Hungarian gypsy diversity?" your daily Aerologic racism dose
DeleteActually, gypsies are white and so is Aerologic (I suppose) so he can't be racist. First learn what these big words mean before you throw them around.
DeleteHe was alluding to the tents.
Deletedefinitely rasistic. so are all of you that defend him. Its not his first time
DeleteYou guys don't have a sense of humour.
DeleteThere is no such word as rasistic.
DeleteRubbish, you know what he meant.
Deleteanon 3:06 must be Swedish. There everything is racism
DeleteNot true. Sweden is a tolerant country. There are some racists and skinheads, and they do get to much attention, but most folks are decent.
DeleteAh, liberals. Always a bone to pick with the rest of the world. lol
DeleteWOW, yes, it is racist. When it comes to Tbilisi, I definitely do not agree. Generic airport, nothing special, public transport with 2 daily train connections and not very comfortable bus service. I have never used the LLC part of terminal at Budapest, however legacy Schengen area is fine, business lounge is nice a comfortable. I also like their minibus service, extremely well organised, directly to the address in Budapest, also reasonably priced. If I just compare Budapest with Tbilisi, yes, Budapest is for me way better.
ReplyDeleteNe lazi nama je ministarka zorana pricala da nema nigde minibus do kuce. Vredjas ministarku.
DeleteI'very been to over 100 airports worldwide, big and small. I don't understand how is it remotely possible that Tbilisi comes any near this list, as it is THE WORST airport I've ever visited: Not only that there are only two trains per day from the airport station, but station itself is dirty and smells of piss, there are no information signs or panels, staff is rude and don't speak any english. In the terminal building everything smells of cigarettes smoke, one fast food restaurant sells hamburgers for 17 us piece, no post office, no luggage lockers or storage, almost all of the staff rude, taxi mafia outside of the building waiting for the pray, etc.etc. So I really don't know who and how makes this list, I am not so sure either that Belgrade and Skopje deserve to be on it, but I will refrain from commenting it, but in my opinion as passenger, Tbilisi as I know, instead of being on the list, should be cliosed down - it is the ONLY airport I never again want to go to
ReplyDeleteHow long ago have you been there?
DeleteI am sure Zagreb deserves to be on the list.
DeleteAccording to him.
DeleteI would say the ranking is more or less correct. As a frequent flyer from SKP I can say that the last few times I flew from there, the airport was quite chaotic. As it handles more and more pax some aspects get worse, especially when the wave around 12:30-13:00 occurs.
ReplyDeleteBorder police is a big mess and you get the feeling as if you were Heathrow with 50 flights in between. Another aspect is cleanliness. It also got worse. All of these problems arise from human capital management so I do hope the management takes an action before they are out of the list.
+1 about Skopje airport police being inefficient and the cleanliness: SKP's toilets resemble the Greek border at Evzoni, not an award winning international airport.
DeleteThey should judge airports by continent and pax numbers. i.e.; ~500,000, 500,000-1m, 1-2.5m, 2.5-5m, 5-10m, 10-20m, over 20m.
ReplyDelete