Why Singapore airport is considered the best in the world

Singapore Airport
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Imagine you've just landed after an 18-hour flight.
Yawning and red-eyed, you prepare to face the usual hassles we encounter at airports: the walk to immigration, the queues that don't move and the almost endless wait for baggage clearance.
But instead you find smiling AI-managed autonomous cleaners cleaning the impeccable floors of the place. And immigration moves so fast that you spend a few moments suspecting something.
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In less than 15 minutes, you're already on the street, in the middle of the tropical heat, wondering why, in the rest of the world, everything is still so difficult.
A few days later, you return to the airport, check in impeccably for your return trip and wait for your flight in the airport's transit lounges.
There, you'll find a free cinema open 24/7, a butterfly garden and the world's tallest indoor waterfall. You can even walk on a glass fish tank, with a screen on the ceiling that digitally mimics the weather outside.
Sometimes you forget you're in an airport and feel like you're in a tiny, brilliantly run futuristic city.
It may seem like a frequent traveler's dream, but this place exists. It's Singapore's Changi Airport, winner of the Skytrax award for the world's best airport for the second year in a row - and for the 14th time since its inception.
While other major airports face rodent infestations, strikes and collapsing ceilings, the futuristic peace of Changi feels like a world apart. The distance between a medium-sized and world-class airport has never seemed so great.
But what does it take for modern air travel to flow so smoothly? And how does Singapore manage to reach this level, while its competitors face such difficulties?
The terminals at Singapore's Changi Airport were designed with stress reduction in mind
BBC/Getty Images
Max Hirsh is the managing director of the Airport City Academy research center, dedicated to airport planning and development. For him, Changi's success is not restricted to quality.
The airport also offers everyday basics, such as speed, safety and connectivity, as well as the flexibility to adapt when something doesn't go as planned.
"In the world of aviation, this happens a lot," explains Hirsh.
"The challenge is not to achieve balance in just one moment, but to maintain the standard for decades, in the face of changes in demand, technology and disruptions. Changi is successful because it treats this balance as an ongoing project, not as an achievement of isolated design."
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First, efficiency; then the show
If you've ever flown to Singapore, you'll probably have noticed the feeling of calm that permeates the airport. What probably goes unnoticed is how carefully this tranquility is produced.
There is a huge, rigorously choreographed operation behind the scenes. Here, automation, biometrics and predictive analysis are used to remove bottlenecks before they become visible.
There are 60,000 employees who keep baggage, cleaning, energy consumption and passenger flow in perfect sync. In Hirsh's words, Changi always seems to be "one step ahead of you".
Autonomous cleaning robots are one of the small operational touches that help in the seamless management of Changi Airport.
BBC/Daniel Seifert
The same logic extends to the less glamorous details.
Back-end infrastructure, such as intuitive guidance, clear signage and crowd management, means that passengers, already affected by jet lag, do not waste their cognitive load trying to find your gate.
There are 500 toilets spread throughout the terminals, which is also very helpful. Each has a touchscreen for passengers to rate their experience. And any drop in ratings will see a cleaning crew emerge in a matter of minutes.
"The hierarchy is simple," explains Hirsh. "First, efficiency; second, atmosphere; third, spectacle."
The power of flow
Changi has so much to offer that it may take several visits to appreciate its breadth.
The best-known example is the Jewel Rain Vortex indoor waterfall in the retail complex attached to the airport. It has become one of Singapore's best-known tourist images.
Travelers can also watch Toni, Changi's robotic bartender, prepare a variety of cocktails in the airport's Terminals 2 and 3.
The butterfly garden imports pupae every two to three weeks, never to be without its winged wonders on display. And, if flying insects aren't your thing, there's also a cactus garden and a sunflower garden on the roof.
The new Fit and Fun zone, opening in early 2025, is full of activities to suit all tastes. It offers everything from punching bags to mini-trampolines.
And, for those who have a longer layover (and don't need an entry visa), the airport even offers free guided tours of the city.
Jewel Rain Vortex, the world's tallest indoor waterfall, turns layover time into a unique experience
BBC/Getty Images
The attractions are continually updated and do more than ease the burden of a long trip.
They also have a purpose more practical: encouraging people to explore the facilities, taking them to walk to different locations within the terminal, and helping to avoid the feeling of overcrowding characteristic of other airports.
Ease of arrival and departure
Part of Changi's efficiency comes from both pragmatism and ambition.
Singapore's labor restrictions have led the airport to adopt automation in the immigration and cleaning sectors, as well as other passenger services.
"Immigration services require a lot of manpower work and not all Singaporeans are willing to do this work," explains Changi Airport Group's vice-president of corporate communications and marketing, Ivan Tan. "So, in part, we are driven by necessity."
In 2024, Changi became the first airport to fully implement passportless immigration, using biometric facial and iris recognition to cut down on what can be one of the most annoying parts of any international travel.
Singapore residents can use the system upon arrival and departure. International travelers can use passport-free clearance when leaving the country.
This practical mindset also helps explain why Changi Airport has never actually allowed itself to sit still.
Airports are miniature cities, driven by rigid schedules and complex logistics. They are very vulnerable to volatility.
This is one of the reasons why Changi recently created Terminal She highlights that due to the ever-evolving challenges, "in a few years, we will need to work twice as hard."
The team is encouraged to test outlandish ideas, even if they fail - an unusual technique in Singapore's often cautious work culture.
Among the lab's projects are a fleet of drones that fly during storms to stop lightning strikes that could close airport runways in one of the most lightning-prone countries in the world.
Business card of the country
Changi's obsession with efficiency is longstanding. It dates back to the 1970s, when Singapore's founding father and first Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew (1923-2015), realized that for the small trade-dependent nation to grow, it needed a welcoming symbol that demonstrated efficiency.
The gamble was expensive, but it worked. Lee would go so far as to call Changi "the best investment of 1.5 billion Singapore dollars [about R$5.9 billion, at current exchange rates] we have ever made."
Fifty years have passed and the investment is still paying dividends.
"[Changi] is a miniature Singapore: efficient, clean, organized and you can trust that everything works as expected," according to Alisha Rodrigo, a Singapore resident who frequently travels from the airport.
I'll talk to her soon after a US government shutdown left US airports with four-hour wait times at immigration and check-in.
"Sometimes predictability is a good thing," highlights Rodrigo. And, ultimately, this is why Changi continues to win awards.
Visitors may take away the memory of the waterfall, but the real achievement is that they managed to get to it without getting lost or even breaking their stride.
Read the original version of this report (in English) on the BBC Travel website.
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