Sydney Airport has been named the fifth most luxurious in the world - Travel Australia

Mar 12, 2024

We're confused too.

As a general rule, one of the worst parts of a holiday is the time spent at the airport. Sure, it can be fun browsing the bookshop for another paperback you’ll never read, but the layover isn’t exactly the highlight.

So it’s with actual astonishment that Sydney Airport has been named the fifth most luxurious airport in the world, according to a survey by UK-based AllClear Travel.

The survey analysed over 1,800 airports before whittling them down to a shortlist of 69, based on how many had a significant selection of passenger lounges available (minimum 10). Each airport was then scored on several factors, from how many designer shops it has, to how many 4 and 5 star hotels are located nearby.

Each airport was also given a score based on whether you can find a champagne bar or caviar house to rest at while waiting to board.

Surveyors – who clearly haven’t visited Sydney Airport – are presumably equating luxury with the recently unveiled shopping precinct/ghost town SYD X, which includes Tiffany & Co, Balenciaga, Versace and Hermes.

Sydney Airport was awarded a “luxury score” of 61 out of 100, coming in at number five after Dubai, London Heathrow, Hamad International Airport and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Internationally renowned Changi Airport in Singapore also scored 61 out of 100, despite its expansive interactive facilities that include indoor waterfalls, a butterfly garden, suspended trampolines, rock climbing centre, art installations, and Singapore’s largest hedge maze.

But Sydney’s Mad Mex is pretty good too.

Extra credit was given by the judges for Sydney Airport’s waterside location of Botany Bay, as well as its history as the world’s oldest continually operating commercial international airport.