NAIA 4th worst in Asia, Middle East for business travel

MANILA, Philippines — The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) has been named as the fourth worst gateway in Asia and the Middle East by business class travelers, trailing its Southeast Asian counterparts that were adjudged as some of the best in the continent.

In a list drawn up by BusinessFinancing.co.uk, NAIA obtained a score of 2.78 on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the highest.

Noi Bai International Airport in Vietnam and Changi Airport in Singapore have been ranked as the world’s best and second best, with respective
 averages of 6.8 and 6.63.

The list also named Hong Kong International Airport in China and Hamad International Airport in Qatar as some of the best in the continent. The best airports in Asia for business travel also included Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport, both in Japan.

Meanwhile, Kuwait International Airport crashed to the bottom of the list, the only gateway that averaged a score of below two.

The Middle East’s Almaty International Airport and King Abdulaziz International Airport in Saudi Arabia were named second and third worst, respectively.

In scoring the airports on the list, BusinessFinancing.co.uk collated passenger reviews across the world from Airline Quality, developed and managed by aviation specialist Skytrax.

From there, BusinessFinancing.co.uk filtered the reviews down to those classified as business class travelers, and ranked the airports by country first and by continent after.

In 2023, travel specialist Casago ranked NAIA as the eighth worst gateway in Asia for passenger queuing times.

Southeast Asian airports like those in Singapore, Cambodia and Vietnam made it to the good side of the list, as travelers appreciated their fast processing periods.

NAIA, however, has a chance to redeem itself in the near future, as it would be rehabilitated and operated by a private sector group led by diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC), which recently bagged the 15-year concession to operate and maintain the airport.

The contract, extendable by 10 years depending on improvements, would require SMC to invest a minimum of P122.3 billion, or P4.89 billion a year, to upgrade the airport.

The SMC group aims to elevate the passenger capacity of NAIA to at least 62 million per annum.

It is also setting up facilities designed to enhance passenger experience.