The world's top 10 airports

Auckland International Airport rates as one of the better airports in the world - but not among the very best - according to the 2005 World Airport Awards.

The top 10 in the latest airport championship league is, unsurprisingly, dominated by Asian airports, with Hong Kong taking top spot for the fifth year in a row, closely followed by Singapore's Changi Airport.

That verdict - based on surveys of more than 5 million passengers - is one that few who have flown into Hong Kong or Singapore would disagree with.

Both airports process passengers with incredible speed and efficiency, have marvellous facilities and terrific transport links, and are also very cheap. Auckland has quite a way to go to reach that standard.

This matters to travellers because security requirements mean that, like it or not, we all have to spend more time at airports.

Skytrax, which conducts the airport surveys, also did a travel stress survey last year. It found that 66 per cent of passengers said the departure airport was the single biggest cause of stress and 19 per cent cited the arrival airport.

Only 15 per cent said the actual flight was the most stressful part of the journey.

That's easy to understand. Trying to work out where you are supposed to go at, say, London Heathrow is a nightmare. By contrast, at Dubai it's a breeze.

Similarly, having to spend a few hours cooling your heels at Los Angeles airport is an experience to be avoided at all costs. By contrast, in Singapore you can enjoy a swimming pool, gardens and a free cinema as well as excellent shopping, reasonably priced bars and cafes, good internet facilities and comfortable lounges.

If you get a choice - and often you don't - it's well worthwhile trying to organise for any gaps between flights to be spent somewhere vaguely tolerable.

These ratings provide a useful guide of where to aim for (you'll find the 2005 results on www.airlinequality.com - link below).

Regular travellers will not be surprised that no United States airports featured in the top 10. The good news for New Zealand travellers is that San Francisco - which Air New Zealand now offers as an alternative to Los Angeles - Minneapolis-St Paul and Cincinnati were rated as the three best North American airports.

Neither will it shock anyone that the big airports of London Heathrow, Frankfurt Main and Paris Charles de Gaulle did not rate. They are decisively outclassed by Munich, Amsterdam Schipol and Copenhagen.

The best airport in the Pacific region, according to the survey, is Sydney, which actually came in 10th out of the 150 airports looked at around the world. That, I have to say, is a mild surprise. I've always thought Sydney Airport was okay without being anything really special.

But, then again, the competition is not amazingly tough. Of the 17 airports in the region which were surveyed, Brisbane was second and Auckland third.

Unfortunately Skytrax does not release the full details of its survey so we don't know how Auckland - or Wellington and Christchurch, which were also covered - actually rated.

Personally, I would have thought Auckland's weakest point is its access. It has poor public transport links, difficult road access and expensive parking.

On the other hand, I've always found the airport itself quite user-friendly, with reasonable lounges, acceptable check-in facilities, good immigration and customs processing - except for the odd occasion when there's a logjam of planes arriving - excellent shopping, adequate eating and drinking places and good sign-posting.
But it could always be better. And, considering that we pay the airport company $20 a head via the departure tax for the privilege of using the place, it probably should be.

After all, Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul Incheon and Munich all have lower departure taxes than we do but still manage to provide better airport facilities.

TOP 10 AIRPORTS:
1 Hong Kong
2 Singapore, Changi
3 Seoul, Incheon
4 Munich
5 Osaka, Kansai
6 Dubai
7 Kuala Lumpur
8 Amsterdam, Schipol
9 Copenhagen
10 Sydney