7.44 PM Friday, 29 March 2024
  • City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
  • Dubai 04:56 06:10 12:26 15:53 18:37 19:52
29 March 2024

Dubai airport number one, say consumers

Dubai International Airport (FILE)

Published
By Bindu Suresh Rai

Dubai International Airport has stuck another feather in its cap by winning the top spot as the best airport of 2010 based on a survey organised by eDreams.com, one of Europe's largest online travel agencies.

The 2010 survey, conduced by the Barcelona-based company, is supported by feedback and reviews from 30,000 customers across several categories in which Dubai Airport was rated 4.75 out of a possible five points overall.

The San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and the Fuhlsbüttel (HAM) Airport in Hamburg earned the titles of second and third best airports, respectively. Each of the top three rated airports also represented the best airport on their respective continents.

Needless to say, across various categories, Dubai Airport scored the top spot for its shopping, with Dubai Duty Free cinching it a 4.58 points, ahead of Tokyo’s Narita International Airport, which came in second at 4.33 points.

Dubai also aced in its airport services, coming in with 4.75 points, ahead of Stuttgart’s Echterdingen at 4.57.

Other categories for best airport rankings in 2010 included restaurant options, lounge areas, Customs control, and airport-to-city transportation options including the metro, buses, cars, taxis, and trains. 

 “The Dubai Airport won by a large margin,” said eDreams Chief Marketing Officer, Mauricio Prieto in a statement. “Many customers commented favorably about the design of the building. They appreciated its modern design concept, functional spaces, and the fact that designers accounted for the real needs of travellers in the new millennium.”

He added: “All feedback and reviews used to determine the best airports of 2010 came from real customers. We collected feedback from 30,000 customers who booked their flights through eDreams to ensure that reviews came from individuals who actually travelled through the airports they reviewed. This enabled us to avoid an open forum for ranting and raving about airports, and filtered users who had real and recent experiences with these facilities.”

This week, Dubai was also reported as the Middle East’s busiest airport with its passenger traffic shooting up more than 15 per cent to a record 47.2 million travellers last year, and up from 40.9 million in 2009.

Airfreight was up too, with cargo traffic jumping nearly 18 per cent to 2.3m tonnes in 2010.

The latest year-to-date figures from Airports Council International show Dubai ranks sixth busiest in the world in terms of international passengers as of October 2010.