World's top 20 airports for 2025 revealed — and the US had a dreadful showing
Singapore Changi Airport has been crowned the world's best airport for 2025, according to the Skytrax World Airport Awards.
It's a record-busting 13th time the hub, one of the busiest passenger airports for Southeast Asia, has won the title from the rating service.
3 A bridge links to the Rain Vortex dome at the Jewel shopping mall at Singapore Changi Airport.
ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images
The only airport in the Americas to make the world's best list was Vancouver International at No. 13.
However, the Skytrax ranking for Best Airport in North America saw one of New York's take a top spot.
LaGuardia Airport was named the best in the nifty 50 for domestic and short-haul international travel.
'A decade ago, the suggestion that LaGuardia Airport would one day be recognized on the world stage as the best regional airport in North America would have been laughable,' Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton admitted in a statement.
'But the Port Authority and our private partners have built what we promised – a world-class airport, with inspiring architecture, public art, iconic concessions and state-of-the-art technology that has propelled LaGuardia from worst to best in the nation in the eyes of the critics and passengers alike.'
It's an improvement from last year's fourth-place spot for LGA.
Plaisted added that 'LaGuardia Airport's evolution over the past decade is nothing short of extraordinary.'
Back to the list-topper, Singapore Changi Airport is known for its unrivaled passenger experience — but it's also a destination within itself.
It features a 10-story shopping mall, multiple indoor gardens, a butterfly center, a spa, hotels, art exhibitions, a museum, a cinema, a dinosaur theme park and the Rain Vortex, which is the world's largest indoor waterfall at around 130 feet tall.
Early check-in has even been introduced there, allowing flyers to drop their bags off up to 48 hours in advance so they can spend time at the much-appreciated stop as part of their vacation.
Changi also received other awards from Skytrax, including the World's Best Airport Dining, the Best Airport in Asia, and its first-ever award for World's Best Airport Washrooms.
3 Tourists sleep on sofas in Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 4.
ruelleruelle/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
'The diversity and expansive choice of dining outlets is also recognized with Changi Airport winning the award for the World's Best Airport Dining,' Edward Plaisted, CEO of Skytrax, said in a statement. 'With washrooms being a major driver of customer satisfaction during their airport experience, we congratulate Singapore Changi Airport on receiving the first ever World's Best Airport Washrooms award.'
The world's second-best airport, according to the report, is Hamad International in Qatar, known for its artwork and architecture. It also won awards for Best Airport Shipping and Best Airport in the Middle East.
Spots three through six were nabbed by Asian airports. Tokyo Haneda, also named the World's Cleanest Airport, came in third place. Fourth was Seoul's Incheon International, which was also awarded World's Best Airport Staff, followed by Narita International in fifth and Hong Kong International in sixth.
3 The Rain Vortex at Singapore Changi Airport is the world's largest indoor waterfall, at around 130 feet tall.
ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images
World's top 20 airports for 2025
Singapore Changi Airport Hamad International Airport Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) Incheon International Airport Narita International Airport Hong Kong International Airport Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport Rome Fiumicino Airport Munich Airport Zurich Airport Dubai International Airport Helsinki-Vantaa Airport Vancouver International Airport Istanbul Airport Vienna International Airport Melbourne Airport Chubu Centrair International Airport Copenhagen Airport Amsterdam Schiphol Airport Bahrain International Airport
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"You've got this super upbeat holiday jingle that screams 'perfect getaway,' and then people pair it with clips of travel disasters, airport chaos, or just totally un-glamorous moments." "I still love it," he added, "though I'll admit it's been stuck in my head for weeks." Verity Walker, a London-based actor, used the jingle to express her frustration with the sweltering heat of the London subway during the summer, which, unlike many of its global counterparts, isn't air-conditioned. Her TikTok video shows an Underground train pulling into a station, with the on-screen caption: "Just watching my sauna arrive." Over the clip, she overlayed a remix of the Jet2 jingle — a screamed parody of the original ad shouting the words in a rasping, shaky voice. "I didn't really think too deep into it," Walker told BI. "I didn't check my phone for hours and then it blew up." @theveritywalker Hell #londonunderground #tube #london ♬ original sound - Hillary Star The video struck a chord online, racking up 630,000 likes at the time of publication. "It's so widely recognizable — it's got to be one of the UK's biggest inside jokes," Walker said. From organic meme to marketing strategy While Jet2 didn't respond to requests for comment from BI on the trend, the airline did help fuel it back in April. A TikTok video posted at the time showed cabin crew and airport staff lip-syncing, dancing to the jingle, and striking influencer-style poses. The caption invited users to participate, promising a Jet2holidays voucher of £1,000 for the best submission using the jingle tagged with #Jet2Challenge. @jet2 NOTHING BEATS A JET2HOLIDAY 🗣️🗣️ And RIGHT NOW we've got a BRAND NEW SOUND (that's better than the last one...) for you to get lip-syncing to... 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"It is the holiday season after all, so this outbreak of virality is perfectly timed and primed for silly holiday videos," he told BI. Sampson added that social algorithms tend to reward emotionally charged or playful content. "The churning of content through platform algorithms also tends to favour high-intensity emotion," he said. "So yes, alongside more horrific and shocking content, irony, nostalgia, cuteness, silliness, and widespread stupidity tend to spread well." David Meerman Scott, the author of "The New Rules of Marketing and PR," described Jet2's marketing video as a "smart move." "Often brands ignore what's happening on social media and treat it as just an outbound," he said. "The fact that they're watching and responded is great." He suggested that the airline's choice to release the video on TikTok was key. "When the time is right to respond to a meme, I always suggest doing so in the same media where it caught fire," he said. "If a video goes viral, respond with your own video."
