Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport and Skopje Airport have been named among the top ten best in Eastern Europe for a fourth consecutive year at the 2018 Skytrax World Airport Awards held in Stockholm. Belgrade Airport was placed sixth among Eastern Europe’s best airports, down one place from 2017's rank, while Skopje managed tenth position, retaining its spot from last year. 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 sixth year in a row. The 2018 World Airport Awards were based on 13.73 million customer nominations across 100 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 | Bucharest |
| 5 | Riga |
| 6 | Belgrade |
| 7 | Tbilisi |
| 8 | Bratislava |
| 9 | Sofia |
| 10 | Skopje |
Over the past four 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, construction of a de-icing platform, opening of new retail space and the installation of a visual docking guidance system for aircraft. Furthermore, the airport completed the overhaul of its Terminal 1 building last year. On the other hand, since opening its new terminal in September 2011, Skopje Airport has been no stranger to awards. On several occasions 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. In the last three years, Skopje Airport redesigned its departure security checkpoints and relocated its duty free shop, as well as its food and beverage facilities. Earlier this month, General Manager, Alper Ersoy, said, "Our main goal in 2018 is to always provide high quality services to our passengers and customers. We will continue to focus on passenger satisfaction and work hard to be ranked as the best in our category".
WORLD AIRPORT AWARDS - BEST AIRPORTS IN EUROPE
| Position | Airport |
|---|---|
| 1 | Munich |
| 2 | London Heathrow |
| 3 | Zurich |
| 4 | Frankfurt |
| 5 | Amsterdam |
| 6 | Helsinki |
| 7 | Vienna |
| 8 | Copenhagen |
| 9 | Hamburg |
| 10 | London City |
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 August 2017 and February 2018. It is the fourth time in the award’s nineteen-year history that two airports from the former Yugoslavia have entered the top ten of any category, which includes 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 | Seoul Incheon |
| 3 | Tokyo Haneda |
| 4 | Hong Kong |
| 5 | Doha |
| 6 | Munich |
| 7 | Nagoya Centrair |
| 8 | London Heathrow |
| 9 | Zurich |
| 10 | Frankfurt |
Nice. Congrats BEG and SKP.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why is Budapest so highly ranked?
ReplyDeleteThere is not much competition in Eastern Europe.
DeleteWell done Belgrade! Congratulations and we hope to see even better results in the future with Vinci!
ReplyDeleteInteresting no Zagreb even with new terminal.
ReplyDeleteWhile architecturally ZAG airport looks very nice, it's a normal airport service wise inside, which this survey is about.
Deletegood question. I wonder if ZAG is in East Europe or Central Europe. They have Baku in CIS while Tbilisi in East Europe.
DeleteIt's in East Europe. They put Croatia Airlines in East Europe too.
DeleteZAG is like any other airport inside. I have traveled from there 5 times since the new terminal opened and except for the aesthetics there is nothing setting it apart from those top 10 in eastern europe.
DeleteOk shame if its only the architecture that is good (never used ZAG)
DeleteI would put them in the most improved category. The old terminal was below avarage.
DeleteMunich being named best European Airport is well deserved.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteIt is one of the best in Europe. Best in Germany for sure.
DeleteMUC is my favourite airport :)
DeleteFrankfurt is very good, too. If I am not mistaken, there are free coffee and tea machines.
Deletelol Frankfurt. no not anymore
DeleteI was really impressed with Paris Charles de gaulle but never been to Munich.
DeleteYeah, CDG is not bad but cannot be compared to MUC or ZRH at all. ORY is crappy.
DeleteMy favourite European airports are ZRH, AMS, BCN and MUC.
CDG is disaster for transfers! Once I was flying Belgrade - Bologna (AlItalia ticket!) and had to walk 20 min through terminal building to reach a station from where we were bused to the terminal for Bologna flight. Not recommended :)
DeleteBEG-BLQ via CDG? Been living there for two years, but never took that particular flight :) On the other hand, I understand the desire to avoid transfering at FCO.
Deletei love the Iberia terminals at MAD Barajas. the best roof :)
Delete@anon 11:45
DeleteYes, it was the only time in 2013 AlItalia offered that connection on JU and AF flights. Ticket was very cheap, around 160 rt if I am not wrong. Bologna-Belgrade was through FCO, which is transfer disaster on its own, as you mentioned. :)
To my standards CDG is a shithole, while MUC is the best in Europe.
DeleteI guess that most here confuse MUC with terminal 2 of MUC.
DeleteA huge part of MUC is terminal 1. That is for all non-Star Alliance airlines. And it is really not pleasant to start any trip there.
Terminal 2 of MUC was great from the very beginning, and still is, despite the new "satellite". But I know a lot of folks from Munich that happily pay more to fly Lufthansa only to avoid terminal 1 of MUC
Terminal 1 looks a bit old fashioned even though it was opened in 90es. I went once to see it during my very long break at terminal 2. However, the square between two terminals is really nice which makes T1 look better.
DeleteI had a huge trouble with satellite gates on T2 earlier in March. The train was out of work so we were bused there but only after taking four flights of stairs to come down. Not really pleasant with sizeable hand luggage.
To me Amsterdam's Schiphol is a shithole, endless travel to reach the gates. Strange Dusseldorf is not highly placed
DeleteTbilisi Airport is a carbon copy of Skopje. Just a bit smaller.
ReplyDeleteexactly. dont see why one is at 6 the other at 10
Deleteapparently they have opened a new arrivals terminal in December
TBS airport is very modern and nice. The city itself is amazing too. Dare to say its much better than many other Eastern European airports.
Deletetbh TBS has become a sardine box
DeleteSKP (which is exactly a bigger copy of it) is more pleasant to use
How about OHD airport? Is it the same as SKP?
DeleteNo, OHD hasn't changed for the last 20 years. Small building with few check in desks and walk to the plane.
DeleteBratislava and Skopje airports are also almost identical
DeleteI think SKP is a bit better vs BTS because it's newer. I also think SKP is also slightly better than BEG in terms of comfort and moderness. TAV did an excellent job!
DeleteCongrats to BEG & SKP.
ReplyDeleteThere have really been some huge changes at BEG over the past few years. It will improve even more with the new concessionaire. Congratulations to Skopje as well. I used the airport last year and have to say it looks good and modern and is easy to use.
ReplyDeleteCekaj a pljuvanje direktora BEG?
DeleteBeing from SOF, I am surprised it´s in the list. The only part is the good competition, metro station and more new non-stop connections. Terminal 1 is a disaster while Terminal 2 has a rude customs control reputation.
ReplyDeleteSKP must be much more above in the list as TAV managed to make dramatic changes.
BEG will soon be topping the chart following Vinci´s concession.
As for TLL, yes. I have flown there in 2016 and the airport is really amazing. Well deserved.
Finally, BUD has been working very hard to open new routes, be very competitive as a destination, the terminals are a bit small maybe but fully operational.
Finally, I am really surprised why ZAG is not in the list. The shiny, new terminal, new routes. Maybe they are also considering competitive routes?
I will never understand how London Heathrow gets to the top of the list?!
ReplyDeleteTerminal 5 my friend ;)
DeleteTerminal 5 is a disorienting bee hive.
Delete"Terminal 5 is a disorienting bee hive." aahahahaha...good one! :)))
DeleteLast time I used terminal 5 was 2009 soon after it was opened. I was impressed by architecture but not else. Satellite gates are not that convenient.
Terminal 4 now used by AirSerbia after deal with Etihad is quite convenient. Overall LHR is bit confusing with terminals separate and bus needed between them.
World's Best Airport Terminals
Delete1 London Heathrow - T2
2 Munich - T2
3 Singapore Changi - T3
4 London Heathrow - T5
5 Tokyo Haneda - Int'l
6 Madrid - T4
7 Dubai - T3
8 Paris CDG - T2-M
9 Mumbai - T2
10 Baku Heydar Aliyev Airport - T1
I would say the ranking is more or less correct.
ReplyDeleteAbu Dhabi will probably be in the top 10 next year since they are opening the midfield terminal this year. That thing is huge.
ReplyDeleteActually it is opening in the fourth quarter of 2019, not this year. It is quite large though
Deletehttps://www.thenational.ae/image/policy:1.671306:1509342881/Abu-Dhabi-Airports.jpg?f=16x9&w=1200&$p$f$w=3be7808
Ah ok, I thought it was this year for some reason. Thanks.
DeleteCestitam Beogradskom aerodromu da je zasluzio sesto mesto u ovom delu Evrope. Cetrdeset sedam je godina od mojeg prvog sletanja iz Melburna. Ipak u zadnjih tri, cetiri godine po mojem vidjenju biznis je unapredjen. Osoblje je dosta dobro.U ponedeljak bice mi 78 put da poletim za Australiju sa Nikole Tesle. Ipak VINCI ce uvrstiti ovu Srpsku vazdusnu luku u pravi Evropski Aerodrom. Zaista iskreno verujem.
ReplyDeleteRodney. 🇷🇸🇦🇺🇷🇸🌏🌍🌎✨🎇🎆🌐
such a shame INI didn't make it
ReplyDeletehahahaha
DeleteAt least it now looks decent!
DeleteBtw, I think W6 are going to end INI-DTM :( It is the only destination not updated in the winter 2018. Does anybody have more info?
Just because it is "decent" doesn't mean it should be listed in the top 10 in Europe or eastern Europe.
Deletethe guy was joking and all of you ate then onion
Deletebtw. Is Wizz really ending Dortmund??
No. They are in the process of scheduling flights.
DeleteThen why is DTM missing? Where does this aircraft usually come from? BEG, SKP or SOF?
DeleteBecause it is March and they have not completed their winter season timetable. Why the drama? I remember the tantrums people were having around easyjet and Geneva. Also this has nothing to do with the topic.
DeleteI am also shocked there is no BWK.
DeleteAnon 11:51am, I have a bad feeling that the flights will be stopped. I have just checked that maybe this route is saturated. CGN is close to DTM so you have:
DeleteSKP-CGN (3 weekly) - operated by A321
SKP-DTM (3 weekly) - operated by A320
SKP-DUS (seasonal) - operated by A321
SOF-CGN (4 weekly) - operated by B738
SOF-DTM (daily) - operated by A320
PRN-CGN (6 weekly) - operated by A319 or B738
But I hope I am wrong. INI already lost EIN for the same reason :( poor load factors. What is more worrying are the really low rates INI-DTM even in July 2018.
Belgrade Airport isn't bad at all. It's clean, bright, a bit sterile but overall very convenient. Transfer between planes is possible within minutes, wifi is free and works well, they also have chairs with USB and power sockets in the armrest which is really great. I like how they put sofas in the centre of the departure lounge overlooking the gates and this area is very popular too. They made the most of the glass facade overlooking the apron. Passport lines are relatively short and quick and if you have a Serbian passport you can just pass though the automated gate which no one seems to use. Bags are usually delivered very quickly.
ReplyDeleteI agree, overall a very convenient airport. They really desperately need to add some food shops in the transit area, though.
DeleteBEG has improved significantly over past 15 years, and especially over last 5-6.
DeleteCheck in area is much better, gates renovated (almost all A7/10 are still embarrassing), more shops, bakery, pharmacy in international zone, bookshop, lots of places to chill out for transfer passengers. They have even started getting toilets in order which is very good.
However, many shortcoming are there to be resolved and hope Vinci will deal with much needed separation of arriving/departing passengers. This is directly making losses to the airport as people go through the gate security early and do not spend up until last minute which is in the airport interest. Passport control area is not bad but it gets crowded when three planes arrive at the same time and police officers are not diligent enough to be there on time and control passports but appear only when the crowd is already there. Automatic control is not frequently used as it is not working for all Serbian passports, namely those issued before 2010, if I am not wrong, and that is majority at the moment. Finally, arrival area is very small dark basement hall with little space full of illegal taxi drivers. Hopefully it will all improve soon.
Worst airport in East Europe gotta be TZL.
ReplyDelete(Nadam se they build a new terminal soon)
There are more horrible airports in Europe, trust me. Ever been to HHN?
DeleteBVA and STN both have horrible reviews on internet.
Dude we are talking about East Europe!!
DeleteWith Singapore I agree. München only Terminal2. T1 is no better than Minsk. If KBP is number 3 in eastern Europe I ask myself how bad the others must be.
ReplyDeleteJust imagine how those 2 new beasts will look like in a couple of years:
ReplyDelete1) FRA - completed by 2022
https://terminal3-infografiken.frankfurt-airport.com/en/
2) New Istanbul Airport - due to open Oct 2018
http://www.igairport.com/en/
Now this is what I call a true high class airport!! Unfortunately, more than 400 workers already died since they began the construction.