BEST AIRPORTS IN THE WORLD

I've flown around 3 million miles and have been to many, many airports.  Here is one of my postings where two years ago I  commented on THE WORLD'S BEST/WORST AIRPORTS.

Condé Nast Traveler just reported on the Best Airports in the World.

• They've done this now for 37 years.
• #10  Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Internation Airport (BOM) in Mumbai.
• #  9  Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL).  Read my posting of what happened to me the last time I was here.  I had a mixed stay in India, and one of my blogs said INDIA SUCKS.  Want a few laughs?  Read the resultant comments from this second posting.  I thought some official took it personally, for I was asked to accompany an official to the bowels of this airport for questioning. 
• #  8  Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND).  Also called Tokyo International Airport, and you can see Mount Fuji from his location.  On one of my ANA flights, we went right by this symbol of Japan, and I probably took my best photo of Mount Fuji.

• 
  #  7  Dubai International Airport (DXB).
• One of my favorite airports.  Here is what I said three years ago.

You wonder why anyone would want to fly to and through Dubai International Airport, but it is the busiest airport in the world for the Airbus38 and Boeing 777, with the largest airport terminal.  Handled 88 million passengers in 2017, #3 to the airports in Atlanta and Beijing.  As new as this airport is, Dubai is building Al Maktoum International Airport to become the largest with 220 million passengers/year.  Hartsfield-Jackson only serves slightly over 100 million passengers/year.

• Five years ago, this is what I said of this city:

Well, there is no war, no one begs, people speak English, it is not Africa, there is little markup, carries the latest fashions, everything is high tech, eminently luxurious, and the wide variety of international cuisine is becoming legendary.  Having just returned from Paris, with some experience in Dubai, the safety factor is overwhelming.

• 
  #  6  Hong Kong International Airport (HKG).  There was a time when I regularly visited Hong Kong.  
• Their old airport was right next to the downtown, and landing was a challenge. 
• This new one had to level an island, reclaim land, build a new 20 mile highway to town and occur when the British was handing over Hong Kong to China.  Also cost $20 billion, according to Guinness, the most expensive airport project ever.  In Hawaii it takes forever to build anything.  Hong took only six years to complete the whole project.
• This photo is one I took seven years ago when I was staying at the airport Marriott SkyCity.

• #  5  Zurich Airport (ZRH).  At the end of our next trip, we fly from Budapest to this airport, to spend two nights in the city.  Then on December 7, we are back at ZRH to San Francisco, then Honolulu.
• #  4  Hamad International Airport (DOH), Doha, Qatar.
• 
  #  3  Seoul Incheon International Airport (ICN).
• The sculpture at the entrance has been referred to as a giant dick:  It is almost a hundred feet long, was designed by Kim Mu-ki and is called "Flying to the Future." 

• 
  #  2  Singapore Changi Airport (SIN).
• Has for a long time been #1, but Turkey spent a lot of bucks to take over the #1 spot.
• We stayed at Changi's airport hotel, Crown Plaza, at the end of 2022.  We could catch a light rail train from the hotel to the airport, and walk around the waterfalls at Jewel.  Had a tonkatsu lunch next to that waterfall.

• 
  #  1  Istanbul Airport (IST).
• Cost $23 billion.  More than that Hong Kong airport.  Except that the latter was built in 1998, so the value today would be $36 billion.
• A fleet of robots direct passengers.
• We were in Istanbul earlier this year, but came and departed by ship.

Skytrax ranks the 100 Best Airports.

• #1 is Doha Hamad and #2 is Singapore Changi.
• #10 is Istanbul.
• The highest ranked American airport is Seattle-Tacoma at #24.  We will fly from Honolulu to this airport on Wednesday.
• Houston Hobby #29, New York LGA #33, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky #46, San Francisco #47, #60 Los Angeles, etc.

Thus, American airports don't do well in international surveys.  However these are the best ones to connect to another flight in North America.

Hurricane Milton, now at 80 MPH, is expected to head towards the Yucatan, then make a virtual left turn towards Florida as a Category 3.  The current projected path shows landfall just south of Sarasota, with departure into the Atlantic south of Cape Canaveral.

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