CHANGI Airport has slipped to third place in an annual ranking of the best airports in the world - the first time it has fallen out of the top two positions since 2001.

The survey of 190 airports around the world by consultancy group Skytrax put Changi behind South Korea's Incheon International and Hong Kong International Airport in the top two spots.

How airports fared in Skytrax survey 1. Incheon, South Korea (3) 2. Hong Kong (1) ... more

Skytrax's chief executive Edward Plaisted said the race for the top three spots was too close to call, with the top three airports almost tying for first place. Still, the results mean that Changi finished in its lowest position in eight years.

It scored highly among the 8,640,552 travellers from nearly 100 countries surveyed when it came to leisure amenities, duty-free shopping and airport dining, but lost out in the final reckoning in categories like washroom cleanliness and security processing.

The annual survey funded entirely by Skytrax evaluates traveller experiences across 39 different categories. Passengers were asked to rank them on aspects such as check-in, arrivals and transfers.

Contacted on Wednesday about Changi's performance, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), which manages the airport, was sanguine.

'Notwithstanding the Skytrax survey outcome, travellers continue to hold Changi Airport in high regard.'

Noting that Changi had bagged a record of 30 'best airport' awards last year, he said different surveys would produce different results, depending on the methodology used.

The final margins between the top three airports were the smallest known for such a large global project, said the company's website.

Changi has emerged No. 1 twice since 1999, when Skytrax began doing this ranking - in 2000 and 2006. For most of this decade, apart from 2001, the last time it was placed third, Changi has dug in at the runners-up position.

Read the full report in Thursday's edition of the Straits Times

limjess@sph.com.sg