KLIA Breaks Into World’s Top 60 — But The Gap With Asia’s Best Remains Wide

Kuala Lumpur International Airport has climbed five places in the latest Skytrax World Airport Rankings, but regional rivals still sit comfortably out of reach.

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Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) has broken into the world’s top 60 airports, ranking 60th in the Skytrax World Airport Awards 2026 — up from 65th in 2025.

The annual rankings, voted on by air travellers worldwide through the 2025/2026 World Airport Survey, are widely regarded as the most recognised benchmark for airport quality globally.

The five-place jump is modest but meaningful.

It puts KLIA ahead of airports in San Francisco, Muscat and Hamburg, and marks the airport’s continued recovery and improvement in passenger experience following the disruptions of the pandemic years.

Topping the 2026 list is Singapore’s Changi Airport, which retained the number one spot after winning World’s Best Airport in 2025—marking its 14th win.

Seoul Incheon came in second, followed by Tokyo Haneda in third.

A Step Forward, Not a Finish Line

The top 10 is dominated by Asian and European hubs, with no North American airport breaking into that tier.

For Malaysia, the ranking carries both pride and perspective; KLIA’s rise reflects genuine progress — but the airport still lags well behind its regional peers, with Singapore sitting 59 places ahead and Hong Kong ranked fourth.

Jakarta, a direct regional competitor, came in at 22nd, a full 38 places above Kuala Lumpur.

The Skytrax survey covers over 550 airports and measures passenger experience across check-in, immigration, security, wayfinding, retail, cleanliness and overall ambience.

Rankings are determined entirely by traveller votes, not by airport size or traffic volume — which makes KLIA’s position a direct reflection of how passengers feel, not just how many of them pass through.

The airport has room to climb.

But for now, a top-60 finish on a list of more than 550 is a step in the right direction — and the work being done behind the scenes suggests KLIA isn’t done moving up.

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The Aerotrain Problem

KLIA’s 60th-place finish reflects genuine progress, but the airport’s own infrastructure tells a more complicated story.

Since the Aerotrain resumed operations on July 1 last year, the system logged 19 reportable incidents with the Land Public Transport Agency (APAD) — four of which caused actual service halts, occurring across July, September and October.

Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) has since launched a Comprehensive Action Plan (CAP), suspending nightly Aerotrain services from 9 pm to 7 am for inspections and system testing.

The timing is deliberate: with Visit Malaysia 2026 on the horizon, the pressure to get it right has never been higher.

MAHB managing director Datuk Mohd Izani Ghani was quick to offer reassurance. “Despite the incidents, passenger flow has remained smooth and, according to our records, no one has missed their flights,” he said.

The Aerotrain has served approximately seven million passengers since July of the same year, completing over 53,000 return trips at a 98.41 per cent operational availability rate.

That’s a strong number — though in a passenger survey where feel matters as much as statistics, even brief disruptions leave an impression.

@berita.ks KUALA LUMPUR, 31 Okt — Tular di media sosial satu hantaran mempersoalkan kualiti kerja penyelenggaraan sistem pendawaian Aerotrain di Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Kuala Lumpur (KLIA), selepas video menunjukkan keadaan kabel yang didakwa tidak kemas, terdedah dan berisiko. Menerusi hantaran tersebut, pihak bertanggungjawab terhadap projek itu dipersoal sambil menyifatkan kerja dilakukan sebagai tidak menepati piawaian keselamatan. Video tersebut telah menarik perhatian ramai pengguna media sosial, yang menuntut siasatan lanjut oleh pihak berkuasa dan Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB). Kredit: Magnito GE #BeritaKS ♬ original sound – Berita_KS

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