Melbourne Airport has been named the best airport in Australia and the Pacific at the Skytrax World Airport Awards, with travellers recognising the airport as the region’s top performer for the sixth time in seven years.
Announced overnight at the Passenger Terminal Expo World 2026 in London, the award is based on the world’s largest airport customer satisfaction survey, with travellers assessing more than 565 airports globally.
The award follows a record summer, with Melbourne Airport recording its busiest month ever for international travel in January.
In the past six months the airport has also welcomed more than half a dozen new airlines with Delta Air Lines, Hong Kong Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines launching flights to Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Shenzhen respectively, and Indonesia AirAsia, Maldivian Airlines, Finnair and British Airways all announcing plans to start services in the coming year.
Melbourne Airport CEO Lorie Argus welcomed the Skytrax recognition and said the honour came at a time of significant transformation for the airport as it builds for the future.
“We’re incredibly proud that travellers continue to rate us as the best airport in our region, but we want to be even better,” she said.
“The people who work at Melbourne Airport are our secret sauce and always strive to put our customers first, but sometimes our infrastructure and border technology let us down.
“We’re processing record international passenger numbers through the same amount of immigration kiosks we had a decade ago while still requiring travellers to fill out a paper arrivals card, which has to change as we edge closer to welcoming the world to Australia for the Brisbane 2032 Olympics.
“We’ll continue to work with government and our local agencies on this, at the same as investing for the future.
“Last month we unveiled details of a $4.5 billion international terminal expansion, and passengers will start noticing changes from September when we open our new Pick up and Drop off zones for Terminals 1, 2 and 3.
“The new pick up and drop off locations will more than double the room travellers have for hellos and goodbyes and will allow us to start pushing the international terminal footprint out into the current arrivals forecourt.
“Our international terminal expansion will give our passengers significantly more room at the same time as allowing our airline partners to grow, through an expanded check-in hall and five new aircraft stands.
“We understand that major works can be disruptive, but this award is testament to the hard work we’ve done as a team to manage that disruption.
“This individual award is lovely but it’s our people and the wider aviation community that matter most, and our thoughts go out to all of the airports and airlines currently impacted by the conflict in the Middle East."