Congratulations, Manila.
Your Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) is no longer one of the worst airports in the world.
On Sunday, the website Sleeping in Airports published its annual list of worst airports in the world, for once, doesn’t include NAIA.
The survey asked travelers to rate airports around the world based on the following criteria: comfort, services, food options, immigration/security, customer service, cleanliness, navigation, and ease of transit, and sleepability.
NAIA has consistently been part of the website’s Worst Airports list, maintaining the top spot from 2011 — 2013. It dropped to 4th place in 2014 and exited the top 10 in 2015. However, it was still the 8th worst airport in Asia in 2015 and rose to 5th worst airport in Asia in 2016, in part because of the bullet-planting scam that compromised passengers.
The new and improved NAIA terminal 1 was unveiled in September 2016. The PHP1.3 billion (US$25.2 million) renovation included new toilets and better air conditioning. Passengers can also opt to pay to enter a lounge that offers WiFi, a shower, and unlimited snacks and drinks.
In even better news, four airports in the Philippines landed on this year’s top 25 list of Best Airports in Asia. This includes the Iloilo International Airport at #12, the Mactan-Cebu International Airport at #13, the Davao Francisco Bangoy International Airport at #17, and the Clark International Airport at #22.
*Correction: A typo in an earlier version of this story resulted in a miscalculation of the US dollar value of the airport improvements.
