“Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku is a five-star airport and there are about 10 such airports in the world.”
According to AZERTAC, President Ilham Aliyev said this at a meeting with the Minister of Transport, Communications, and High Technologies, Rashad Nabiyev, in video format on January 26.
Fakt Yoxla examined Ilham Aliyev's claim.
There are several websites that measure the star ratings of airports around the world: airhelp.com, edreams.com, skytraxratings.com, etc. As the indicators in other rating centers are based on fewer criteria, we used Skytrax's evaluations as a basis for our research.
For example, on the edreams.com website, the evaluation is based on 3 criteria: restaurants, shopping, and waiting rooms. Heydar Aliyev International Airport is not in the top 10 in the ranking list on this website.
Another ranking website, airhelp.com, also rates on three criteria: flight timing accuracy, service quality, food and shopping. Heydar Aliyev Airport is not in the top 10 in this ranking table as well.
The Skytrax Airport Star Rating has been presented for 20 years and has become a global quality assessment benchmark for the airport industry.
Skytrax applies a rating between 1 and 5 stars. This includes an evaluation of 30 different criteria, from the airport website to the quality of the terminal hotel.
The ranking methodology is unified for the sector - all airports, from the largest hubs to the smallest regional enterprises, are evaluated by the same basic criteria. Ratings are based on customer experience. Evaluation criteria include ground transport, security, passport control, road signs, arrival and departure at the airport, transfer, terminal convenience, and other criteria. These criteria themselves are divided into smaller sections.
A brief explanation of each of the star rating levels is given in Skytrax. Let's take a look at what this means, as the topic covers specific five-star airports.
To get the best rating, i.e. five-star, staff services or product standards must meet global indicators or create the best practice on their own. It is not necessary for each element to be five-star for a five-star rating of an airport as a whole.
According to the evaluation of Skytrax, the number of five-star airports is 14, not 10. 8 of them are hub airports and 6 are regional airports. In this ranking, Heydar Aliyev Airport is not at the level of hubs, but at the regional level, it is a five-star airport. The airport is rated five-star on baggage delivery time, short walking distance, number of seats, and other criteria. However, according to other websites, Heydar Aliyev Airport is not in the top 10. In addition, the fact that the airport is five-star does not mean that it is leading in the ranking of the best airports. Such that according to Skytrax's ranking for 2019-2020, Heydar Aliyev Airport is ranked 58th among the top 100 airports.
Fakt Yoxla concludes that the claim is Half True.
