Haneda, Narita fly high in awards recognizing world’s best airports

Tokyo’s Haneda and Narita airports were announced among the world’s best airports in 2024 at the Skytrax World Airport Awards ceremony held in Frankfurt, Germany, on Wednesday.  

Haneda Airport, in Tokyo’s Ota Ward, was the highest placed of Japan’s airports in the Skytrax list of the world’s top airports for 2024 placing 4th, one spot above Narita Airport, in Chiba Prefecture near Tokyo, which placed 5th. 

In Qatar, Doha’s Hamad International Airport took out the award for the World’s Best Airport for 2024 ahead of last year’s winner, and 12-times previous winner, Singapore Changi Airport in second, and Korea’s Seoul Incheon Airport - also named the World’s Most Family Friendly Airport for 2024 - in third. 

Haneda Airport came away with three awards from this year’s ceremony - maintaining its status as the World’s Cleanest Airport (for the sixth consecutive year) and the World’s Best Domestic Airport (for the 12th consecutive year). Haneda was also awarded for delivering the World’s Best Airport PRM & Accessible Facilities, for passengers with reduced mobility. 

Along with being recognized as the fifth best airport in the world at the awards, Narita Airport was also awarded for having the World’s Best Airport Staff, marking the second time for the airport to have taken out the award since 2019. 

The Tokyo airports weren’t the only air travel hubs in Japan to come away from Frankfurt with awards. New Chitose Airport on Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido was named the World’s Most Improved Airport and Chubu Centrair International Airport (Aichi Prefecture) the World’s Best Regional Airport. Kansai International Airport, in Osaka, which ranked 18th in Skytrax’s list of World’s Best Airports, was recognized as the World’s Best Airport Baggage Delivery.

While Haneda fell just a few places short of becoming the best airport in the world according to the Skytrax awards, it was found to be the highest ranked of the world’s best airports by passenger number. Handling over 70 million passengers, Haneda ranked above Paris Charles de Gaulle and Singapore Changi airports, according to Skytrax.  

UK-based air transport research firm Skytrax launched the World Airport Awards in 1999. Customer service and facilities across over 500 airports are assessed for the awards based on the results of a customer survey. Customers of over 100 nationalities participated in the 2023-2024 survey for the latest edition of the awards.

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