This is the best airport in the world.
Now, I've flown all over the globe,
and I usually want to get out of the airport
as quickly as possible.
So to test the title,
I spent a day at Singapore's Changi Airport,
which was just crowned the world's best for the 12th time.
And we do not even have a flight.
You want to land on me?
I toured the gardens,
the $1.3 billion lifestyle hub, and the rooftop pool.
If airports are filled with people
trying to go somewhere else,
why did this tiny island nation
spend so much money to build this place?
And what's it really like to spend a layover here?
A lot of the good stuff at Changi is airside,
meaning you need to book a flight to see it.
But the Jewel is landside.
So you can visit the giant donut-shaped shopping mall
without having a plane ticket.
And there are no gates here.
It sits between the control tower and Terminal 1.
It took four years to build
and was funded with private investments.
If you're airside, the train between Terminal 2
and 3 cuts right through the dome.
After what, three reports on this one terminal
in my lifetime as a reporter,
I finally get to see it.
So it's this side, no?
Here goes!
It's like the best roller coaster I've ever been on.
That doesn't even look real.
It looks like all the pictures.
Wow.
But if you're landside and you don't have a plane ticket,
you can still visit the Jewel.
You can enter through a footbridge
from Terminal 3 ticketing.
There are 10 floors to Jewel,
five below ground and five above.
In the middle sits the Rain Vortex.
At 130 feet tall, it's the tallest indoor waterfall
in the world.
It runs 24/7 using mostly recycled rainwater.
At night, the waterfall is a canvas
for a 360-degree light show.
The city of Singapore is known for its gardens,
so the airport captured that theme inside Jewel
with this tiered vegetation.
And 99% of these plants are real.
You would never believe that planes are taking off
on the other side of this.
Canopy Park sits at the top
of the dome and costs about $6.
What?
The mirror and hedge mazes cost a bit extra.
You can change the gate to block off other people
when they come around next time.
I feel like I'm in "Harry Potter" right now.
Oh my God, I made it. I got so lost.
These Sky Nets tower overhead,
and you can pay an extra $13 to bounce on them.
Oh my God. The elephant's my favorite.
He's so cute.
I'm not on fire.
These are the Foggy Bowls, and apparently,
they're a hit among the little kids,
which, I am one of those.
A hit among me as well.
But my favorite part? This glass-bottom bridge
that hangs 75 feet above the ground.
We got media passes for the day to tour everything airside,
starting with the hotel right by the gates.
A third of passengers transit through Changi.
So they don't leave the airport,
which means that amenities here
airside and hotels like the transit hotel
are really important to keep people here.
So this room is right on the transit side.
So your view means overlooking the tarmac.
Flights taking off.
Rooms this size cost about $330 a night.
But even if you're not staying in the hotel,
the 24-hour gym and the pool are open to the public.
So we're just going to wait for the Skytrain.
If you want to plug your phone in here,
you’ve got to do some cycling.
I don't know how much more charge I want, actually.
Nice little workout before your plane.
Also airside, a free butterfly garden.
Oh my God, it's so toasty.
There's about a thousand butterflies in here
ranging 40 different species,
and we're at an airport.
They're teasing me. I just want to pet one.
And I loved this koi pond.
Are you camera-shy?
You're coming in hot, man.
I don't know what I did.
And if you've got a longer layover, you can catch a flick.
There's even a movie theater, and it's free.
It runs 24/7, and I think right now,
the second "Venom" film is playing.
There's of course tons of high-end shops
from Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga, and Fendi.
I think I've seen, like, four Guccis so far today.
In 2022, the airport made about $120 million
from shopping alone.
So I feel like it's just as much
an airport as it is a giant, really fancy mall.
And to continue the luxury vibes, private lounges
for business and first-class travelers dot the airport.
But since I wasn't flying today,
I went straight for the food.
This is Singapore Food Street in Terminal 3.
And there's a Subway at the entrance.
Oh my God, that cracks me up.
There was also a Burger King on the other end.
This food street is supposed to emulate
a traditional 1960s hawker market,
with all the classic Singaporean dishes to match.
Three minutes? OK, perfect. Yeah.
And with plates under $10,
it's a more affordable food option
than other restaurants in the airport.
Thank you so much.
It's the biggest bowl of soup I've ever seen.
So we've got some soup dumplings, we've got laksa,
some minced pork soup, chicken and rice, and chicken satay.
Can I double-dip? We're just going to do it.
This is one of Changi's newer terminals,
but the rest of the airport isn't that old.
Construction started in 1981.
At first, it had just one terminal and one runway.
Singapore sits at the tip of the Malay Peninsula, making it
a gateway connecting the West to the rest of Asia.
Over the following decades, traffic increased.
By 2007, the airport had over a 400% jump
in passengers, and Changi launched Terminal 3.
The fourth terminal came in 2017, and then two years later,
the airport opened the $1.3 billion Jewel.
By that time, the airport had already snagged the title
of best in the world 10 times.
But when COVID-19 cases surged, Changi shut down.
And the airport had to halt construction
on the new Terminal 5.
For the next two years, it lost out
to Hamad International Airport in the Skytrax award
because Qatar had looser COVID travel restrictions.
But in 2022, Changi came roaring back
with four times the passengers as 2021
and a 35% increase in revenue.
In 2023, it reclaimed the Skytrax title.
And Changi hopes to stay on top by beating out Seoul,
Tokyo, and Hong Kong in international flight traffic,
starting with the resumed construction
on the $10 billion Terminal 5.
But why has this tiny country of Singapore
invested so much into an airport?
Well, there are three reasons.
First, the airport is a big moneymaker.
Just about 6 million people live in Singapore,
but the airport hosts between 30 and 70 million travelers
in a typical year.
That brings in a lot of money.
Over a tenth of the country's GDP comes from air transport.
The industry also supports 375,000 jobs on the island.
No. 2, all the new infrastructure
in soon-to-be Terminal 5
will add 50 million passengers onto Changi's capacity,
bringing in more flights and revenue.
And three, the airport has to reflect the promise
of luxury set by its city
and its main airline, Singapore Airlines.
And that luxury has started a trend in Asia
for the biggest, fanciest airports in the world.
Qatar, South Korea, and Japan have all invested billions
in their airports to create luxury travel escapes,
effectively locking more utilitarian
North American airports out of the top rankings.
So after 10 hours in Changi without a flight to catch,
my final thought? Add this airport —
yes, airport — to your bucket list.