NAIA remains worst airport, study shows

MANILA, Philippines — The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) is again the worst airport in the world, ranking dead last among the busiest gateways globally, according to a study by an Australian firm.

In an analysis conducted by price monitor Compare the Market, NAIA scored a dismal 0.24 on a scale of zero to 10, with 10 being the highest, making it the worst airport in the world.

The NAIA received an average of 3.8 out of five based on user ratings from Google, and scored some of the poorest points in other categories.

On a scale of one to 10, the NAIA was given a 6.6 for efficiency, 6.6 for accessibility, 6.1 for service and 6.8 for cleanliness.

Compare the Market also evaluated the flight report total of each airport and their current ratings with industry benchmark Skytrax.

In Southeast Asia, the NAIA trailed behind its counterparts Singapore’s Changi Airport (second) and Thailand’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport (11th).

The main airports in Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam also placed higher than the NAIA, at 19th, 39th and 53rd, respectively.

Globally, the Hong Kong International Airport stood on top of the rankings with a score of 9.44, besting Changi Airport, known as one of the finest in the world.

Haneda Airport, Incheon International Airport and Hamad International Airport rounded up the leaderboards for the best gateways across the globe.

Further, Compare the Market ranked the NAIA as the 50th busiest airport in the world in a measure of passenger footprint, flights per day and number of destinations.

For the highest rated airports, Compare the Market considered the average rating that users gave an airport on Google. It also examined the quality of passenger services in an airport and how it was viewed by Skytrax based on its own star ratings.

The NAIA has a reputation of landing as the worst airport in the world, as it is troubled with issues on flight delays, internet speed, safety and sanitation, among others.

BusinessFinancing.co.uk listed the airport as the fourth worst in Asia and the Middle East for business travelers.

In spite of this, hope rests upon the New NAIA Infrastructure Corp., led by San Miguel Corp., as it has taken over the responsibility of managing the NAIA since September.

The concessionaire is tasked to undertake the P170.6-billion rehabilitation of the NAIA, with the aim of scaling up its passenger capacity to 62 million per annum and flight movement to 48 an hour.