A passenger plane flies over a barbed wire fence as it approaches Sydney airport February 23, 2010.
A passenger plane flies over a barbed wire fence as it approaches Sydney airport February 23, 2010. Reuters/Tim Wimborne

Customers have voted Sydney Airport as the top airport in the Australia/Pacific region at this week’s Skytrax World Airport Awards in Stockholm. Sydney outshined Brisbane to be hailed as Australia’s best for this year in the latest Skytrax World’s Top 100 Airports list.

The World Airport Awards assesses customer service and facilities across 550 airports. Travellers of over 100 nationalities have completed over 13.7 million survey questionnaires.

Skytrax CEO Edward Plaisted congratulated Sydney Airport for winning the customer satisfaction award for this year amid competition from airports in Australia. He said it demonstrates how much it continues to improve standards of customer service.

Melbourne was the next best at number 7 in the world. Perth followed Rome Fiumicino as the world’s most improved airport. It was the most improved Australian airport, climbing 12 spots in the rankings to come in at number 59.

For Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert, receiving the global recognition makes him proud of the work the team has undertaken to improve the customer experience at Sydney Airport. He noted that improvements to meet customers’ needs were made.

Culbert also said that it is humbling to be recognised through the award, which inspires them to continue focusing on a more enjoyable customer experience.

“Over the last 12 months, we’ve implemented a range of measures to build on this experience for our customers from improving wayfinding using technology and digital channels, to a more contemporary offering of food and beverages concepts and retail brands in our refurbished terminals,” Culbert said in a statement.

He also talked about other customer initiatives, citing the introduction of the automated check-in and bag drop zones earlier this month. These automated check-in and bag drop zones were introduced in parts of the T1 International terminal.

The continued role that innovation would play in the ongoing experience of customers at the airport was also highlighted. Culbert said that some examples of how Sydney Airport creates a more meaningful experience for international visitors are the implementation of Baidu Maps, a Chinese navigation app, and the launch of the WeChat channel as well as a Chinese-language website.

There is more to do, however. Culbert declared that 2018 will see the introduction of biometrics processing. It will allow passengers to check-in and board flights with their face as both a boarding pass and passport.

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