Muscat: Singapore Changi Airport has been named the World’s Best Airport in 2023 in the World Airport Awards held at Passenger Terminal EXPO in Amsterdam by Skytrax on Wednesday.
For the fifth consecutive year, Salalah Airport has been awarded the Skytrax 5 Stars rating.
The 2021 and 2022 Airport of the Year, Hamad International Airport, Doha took 2nd place in the global ranking and won three top awards for the World’s Best Airport Shopping, the Best Airport in the Middle East, and the Cleanest Airport in the Middle East.
For airports in the Sultanate, the Muscat International Airport has been ranked 42nd in the world.
Muscat is the third-best cleanest airport in the Middle East, while Salalah is the third-best regional airport in the Middle East.
Muscat is the fourth-best among airports serving five to ten million passengers while Salalah is the sixth-best among airports serving less than five million passengers a year.
Muscat has the third-best airport staff in the Middle East in 2023.
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the recovery in air travel demand is continuing in 2023, based on January traffic results.
Total traffic in January 2023 (measured in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) rose 67 percent compared to January 2022. Globally, traffic is now at 84.2 percent of January 2019 levels.
International traffic climbed 104 percent versus January 2022 with all markets recording strong growth, led by carriers in the Asia-Pacific region. International RPKs reached 77 percent of January 2019 levels.
“Air travel demand is off to a very healthy start in 2023. The rapid removal of COVID-19 restrictions for Chinese domestic and international travel bodes well for the continued strong industry recovery from the pandemic throughout the year. And, importantly, we have not seen the many economic and geopolitical uncertainties of the day dampening demand for travel,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.
Middle Eastern airlines’ January traffic rose 97.7 percent compared to January a year ago. Capacity increased by 45.9 percent and load factor climbed 20.8 percentage points to 79.2 percent.
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