Vancouver has the best airport in North America for the seventh year in a row, according to air traveller feedback gathered by U.K. air travel consultancy Skytrax.
Vancouver International Airport (YVR) won the recognition March 16 at the Skytrax World Airport Awards in Cologne, Germany. Skytrax also ranked YVR as the 14th best airport in the world, down from a rank of No. 11 last year.
Travellers also liked Vancouver’s airport hotel given that the Fairmont Vancouver Airport hotel ranked No. 9 worldwide and No. 1 in North America.
“YVR is the first airport in the world to win seven years in a row in any Skytrax category, to our knowledge,” YVR’s vice-president of operations Steve Hankinson told Business in Vancouver soon after the awards were announced.
“We are absolutely overwhelmed with this achievement because to get recognized as the best airport in North America for seven years running is not just a reflection on the airport authority but, actually, every company and everybody who operates at YVR.”
Denver International Airport and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport ranked as North America’s second and third best airports.
The top Canadian airport outside Vancouver is Toronto Pearson International Airport, which ranked No. 6 in North America and No. 44 worldwide.
Skytrax’ awards are based on 13.2 million passenger surveys conducted in 555 airports around the world.
The survey measures 39 elements in the airport travel experience including check-in, security, border clearance processes, comfort, efficiency, signage, transportation availability, passenger amenities and friendliness.
It is the world’s largest independent, airport-customer satisfaction survey.
Despite the high-fives among YVR executives, however, this is the first time in many years that YVR did not also win its size category for best airport in the world.
YVR had long been atop Skytrax’s list of best airports in the world that serve between 10 million and 20 million passengers annually.
Last year, for example, Kansai International Airport, which is located on an artificial island in the middle of Japan’s Osaka Bay, ranked second in that category with Auckland Airport in New Zealand ranking third.
Because YVR’s 2015 passenger count jumped to a record 20.3 million, the airport is up against a different set of airports in the category of airports that serve between 20 million and 30 million passengers annually.
Zürich Airport ranked No. 1 in that category this year followed by Kansai International Airport, which also increased in size so it too jumped into the new, larger category.
Vancouver ranked third.
“That just gives us something to shoot for,” Hankinson said.
“You have to be contemplating new processes and innovating all the time because, as we grow, it becomes more challenging.”
To that end, YVR has ambitious and controversial expansion plans that BIV investigated last fall.
Officials at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, which ranked No. 54 worldwide and No. 7 in North America, announced an ambitious 20-year master plan for expansion hours after the Skytrax rankings were announced.
Singapore’s Changi Airport, ranked No. 1 overall for the fourth consecutive year. It was followed by South Korea’s Incheon International Airport and Germany’s Munich Airport.
YVR ranked much further down that list, at No. 14, but it passed Beijing Capital Airport, which dropped from ranking No. 10 last year to now rank as the world’s 16th best airport.
Four airports, however, passed YVR in those rankings.
Kansai International Airport moved up to be No. 9 worldwide, compared with No. 12 last year.
Other airports that passed YVR were Qatar’s Doha Hamad Airport, which catapaulted to No. 10 from No. 22 last year; Japan’s Narita International Airport, which crept up to No. 11 from No. 14; and Frankfurt Airport, which inched up to No. 12 from being No. 13.
For the full list of the top 100 world airports ranked by Skytrax's surveys, click here .
