Changi Airport: Hanging out at the world's best airport

Every fewer weeks oregon so, Hiskandar Zulkarnaen heads to Singapore's Changi Airport, his woman and 2 young children successful tow.

Their destination: Jewel, the 1.5m sq ft buying promenade linked to Terminal 1, designed by the renowned Canadian designer Moshe Safdie and his team. His children are particularly fond of the seven-storey precocious rainfall vortex, the world's tallest indoor waterfall. A Disney-themed airy and euphony amusement is besides a favourite. The household past stops by Terminal 3, minutes distant by shuttle autobus oregon electrical train, for kid-friendly carnivals with rides and games.

"I person yet to acquisition different airdrome that purposefully presents itself arsenic a leisure, retail, and eating destination," Zulkarnaen says, likening the travel to Changi to visiting Orchard Road, Singapore's world-famous buying strip.

Welcome to what is the world's champion airport, according to Skytrax, a consultancy that ranks and reviews airports.

Skytrax claims to transportation retired the largest yearly planetary airdrome lawsuit restitution survey, wherever travellers measure work and facilities crossed much than 550 airports. Changi has travel retired astatine the apical 12 times successful Skytrax rankings, including 8 number-one rankings successful the past decade. It regained its crown successful March aft trailing Doha's Hamad International Airport and Tokyo's Haneda Airport for the past 2 years, winning praise from Skytrax for its "unrivalled rider experiences".

Before the pandemic, successful 2019, immoderate 382,000 flights took disconnected oregon landed astatine Changi, ferrying much than 68 cardinal passengers. While it is inactive recovering its rider volume, Changi is nary specified question hub: it is an astir iconic hangout spot, beloved by Singaporeans.

Ask Rachel Tan who regularly takes a 15-minute thrust to Jewel to store for groceries - buying aside, "you tin beryllium astatine the fountain and you tin bask the acquisition of being astatine Jewel," says the 34-year-old lawyer.

Easily accessible by subway and bus, it is not antithetic to find radical spending their full time astatine Changi. You tin ticker a movie, person a meal, bargain groceries, adjacent find a quiescent spot to survey for an exam. Over the years, it has besides go a destination for wedding shoots and reunion dinners.

Other attractions see an air-conditioned rainforest, hedge maze and a 12m-high slide. If you're flying retired and find yourself astatine the airdrome a small excessively early, the transit country is equipped with a spa, a theatre screening escaped movies and a swimming pool, not to notation massage chairs and a butterfly garden.

The airdrome adjacent has its ain scent: a custom-made fragrance with floral notes and spices that's diffused passim Changi.

And conscionable extracurricular Terminal 4, determination is simply a show of life-sized dinosaurs that stretches for a mile.

In a state obsessed with rankings, beryllium it schools oregon section actors, Changi stands retired arsenic a peculiar constituent of pride. An Indian writer adjacent tweeted that Singaporeans are "irrationally proud" of it, drafting a predictably huffy response.

And Singapore authorities way the airdrome rankings "religiously", says Shukor Yusof astatine the aviation consultancy Endau Analytics. "It gives not conscionable bragging rights, but cements their estimation arsenic a apical destination for airlines."

Even portion its check-in counters and duty-free shops went eerily quiescent during the pandemic, the authorities was bullish that Changi would go a question hub again, injecting much than a cardinal Singapore dollars into the aviation sector.

Singapore's transport curate said astatine the clip that the manufacture plays a "crucial role" successful ensuring the city-state's presumption arsenic a planetary trading and concern hub.

"Changi is 1 of, if not the, champion airports to transit through," says Zurich-based Alex Chan, who transits done Singapore up to 4 times a twelvemonth during aggregate enactment trips.

While Changi is "huge", Mr Chan reckons that it is overmuch amended organised and much businesslike than the likes of Frankfurt oregon Amsterdam's Schipol. "I usually question with a large radical of astir 60, but I person yet to spot a portion of luggage mislaid here. At the different large hub airports astir the world, it's precise casual to miss your connecting flight, but this ne'er seems to hap astatine Changi."

Notwithstanding a caller method glitch that disrupted migration clearance for respective hours astatine onshore and aerial checkpoints, galore planetary travellers take to transit astatine Changi arsenic the chances of their itinerary being disrupted are low, said Mr Shukor.

"If you look astatine the magnitude of clip and vigor and concern spent connected immoderate peculiar airport, past Singapore has by acold done the most," helium says.

Back successful the 1990s, erstwhile conscionable astir the lone happening to ticker connected Singaporean TV was play serials produced by the authorities broadcaster, Changi's iconic power operation was often the centrepiece for the opening changeable of a caller serial.

This invariably progressive a character, who had been distant for galore years, landing astatine Changi and taking a scenic taxi thrust location earlier exclaiming to his relatives however overmuch the state had changed. Changi, aft all, opened successful 1981 with conscionable 1 terminal and 1 runway.

And its entreaty has endured. Back successful 2019, Jewel received 50 cardinal visitors wrong the archetypal six months of its opening. A 5th terminal is present successful the works, and is expected to beryllium operational successful the mid-2030s.

"I don't deliberation immoderate different airdrome successful the satellite tin boast that the locals sojourn it conscionable for fun," says Adrian Tan, a lawyer and societal commentator. He says Singaporeans cognize it arsenic good arsenic the neighbourhood kopitiam, oregon java shop.

Mr Tan wryly described the "national ritual" upon landing astatine Changi aft a agelong travel away: remark connected however overmuch amended it is than different airports, zip done migration and grin arsenic the strains of "welcome home" are heard and past caput retired for section fare similar chicken rice "so that we tin reaffirm our culinary superiority implicit the remainder of the world".

"That's wherefore Changi is great. It represents everything that Singapore is bully at: ratio and courtesy with a Singaporean flavour."