By Ken Hegan for MSN
This awards season we’ve had the Golden Globes, Grammys, and Oscars.
Now it’s time for the awards night we’ve all been waiting for…the annual Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Awards presented by Airports Council International (ACI). Can you feel the tension and magic?
“This an exciting time for airports,” said Angela Gittens, the ACI’s ‘World Director General’ [which I’m hoping means she’s a 4-star general in full military uniform covered in badges and medals, and who sports a riding crop, knee-high leather boots, and pearl-handled pistols].
This week Gittens and ACI announced their list of glittering, award-winning airports.
Passengers filled out satisfaction surveys at 275 airports. Awards were based on 30 aspects of customer service like ambience, efficiency and courtesy of staff, security screening processes, cleanliness, and value for cash in food, beverage, and retail outlets.
And hey, look at this: three Canadian airports — Victoria, Winnipeg, and Ottawa — made the awards list. So what categories did they win?
1) Victoria won ‘BEST AIRPORT BY REGION: FEWER THAN 2 MILLION PASSENGERS PER YEAR;
2) Okay, Ottawa didn’t win first prize, but it did win second place in North American airports (behind Indianapolis) for BEST AIRPORT BY REGION. Ottawa also came in third in the whole world for BEST AIRPORT BY SIZE (2 – 5 million passengers).
3) Winnipeg finished 5th worldwide for BEST AIRPORT BY SIZE (2 – 5 million passengers), and was awarded BEST IMPROVEMENT for North American airports, a.k.a. the ‘I ran, too’ participation ribbon or the ‘Good Job, Billy!’ medal.
Clean your tuxes and gowns, Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Victoria, because you’ll be strutting down the red carpet to pick up your shiny hardware.
Without further ado, here’s the full list of winners of this year’s Airport Service Quality Awards:
BEST AIRPORT BY REGION
Africa
- Cape Town
- Durban (South Africa)
- Cairo
- Mauritius
- Johannesburg
Asia-Pacific
- Seoul Incheon
- Singapore
- Beijing
- New Delhi
- Hong Kong
Europe
- Moscow Sheremetyevo
- Malta
- Edinburgh [Yay, Scotland! That was for my Mum]
- Keflavik (Iceland)
- Zurich
Latin America-Caribbean
- Cancun
- Guayaquil (Ecuador)
- Montego Bay
- San José (Costa Rica)
- Barbados
Middle East
- Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates)
- Dubai (United Arab Emirates)
- Doha (Qatar)
- Tel Aviv (Israel)
- Bahrain
North America
- Indianapolis
- Ottawa
- Tampa
- Sacramento
- Jacksonville
BEST AIRPORT BY REGION: FEWER THAN 2 MILLION PASSENGERS PER YEAR
Africa
Upington (South Africa
Europe
Skopje (Macedonia)
North America
Victoria, BC
BEST AIRPORT BY SIZE
2 – 5 million passengers
- Hohhot (China)
- Guayaquil (Ecuador)
- Ottawa
- Chiang Mai (Thailand)
- Winnipeg
5 – 15 million passengers
- Nagoya (Japan)
- Hyderabad (India)
- Tianjin (China)
- Wuhan (China)
- Sanya (China)
15 – 25 million passengers
- Seoul Gimpo (Korea)
- Chongqing (China)
- Taipei (China)
- Hangzhou (China)
- Tampa (USA)
25 – 40 million passengers
- Seoul Incheon
- New Delhi
- Mumbai
- Tokyo Narita
- Shanghai Hongqiao
Over 40 million passengers
- Singapore
- Beijing
- Hong Kong
- Shanghai Pudong
- Guangzhou (China)
BEST IMPROVEMENT
Africa
Mombasa (Kenya)
Asia-Pacific
Sanya (China)
Europe
Faro (Portugal)
Latin America-Caribbean
Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic)
Middle East
Abu Dhabi
North America
Winnipeg
How many have you visited?
— Ken Hegan
Read more of Ken’s travel stories here
Twitter: @KenHegan
Ken Hegan 
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