What makes a good airport? Amenities? Number of destinations you can get to from it? Low numbers of delays? Comfort? There are loads of factors to consider.
The best airports in the world likely have all of these characteristics covered. However, trying to nail down the best airport in the world isn’t exactly easy. Chiefly because you’d likely have to go to all of them and who has time for that?
Well, fortunately, you don’t have to travel to every airport on planet earth to decide because the Air Transport Awards has announced this year’s winner.
More than 4,000 airport industry experts and Air Transport News readers cast their votes and this year’s winner was, for the fourth successive year, iGA Istanbul Airport in Turkey.
So what makes Istanbul Airport stand out from the rest? It’s only been open for five years after a huge build totalling around £9.4billion ($12bn), meaning it’s modern and very well-equipped.
Perhaps the most appealing facilities on offer in the airport are the rest and recuperation areas.
Most of us have been stranded in an airport due to a delay at some point, and often in those scenarios you can find yourself trying to catch 40 winks on a hard, dirty, terminal floor or a rickety metal chair.
But at Istanbul’s new airport, there are dedicated “sleepod” and “napzone” areas, as well as on-site hotel and even a television viewing area with multiple screens where you can while away the hours.
If you’re bored of watching screens or want something to energise you after your rest, the airport has a museum, a library, and a youth lounge for the kids.
Once you’ve taken in the exhibits in the museum and read to your heart’s content in the library, perhaps you’ll feel you’re in need of a bit of a refresh. Well why not head down to the spa and allow yourself some TLC before your flight?
Istanbul airport has more than enough restaurants and shops to keep you busy too. In fact, it’s so well catered for you may want to miss your flight altogether.