The Hamad International Airport (HIA) added another feather to its cap when it was ranked as the second best airport in the world by the ‘Travel + Leisure World's Best Awards 2017’ readers’ survey. 

The magazine’s readers chose the HIA as second among the Top 10 international airports in the world, with Singapore’s Changi Airport taking top spot, reported Gulf Times.

‘World’s Best’ awards recognise the greatest airports, islands, cities, hotels, and cruise lines in the world, as voted by its 4.8m readers, and has been an annual event for the last 22 years.

The airports were ranked according to their ease of access, security, variety of food and beverage options, shopping experience and design, reported Qatar Tribune.

HIA ranked very high on all criteria and scooped the second place based on its unique Vitality Wellbeing and Fitness Center as well as its world-class sculptural art curated in partnership with Qatar Museums.

With the runner-up position, HIA takes the lead in the global race of best international airports, along with South Korea’s Incheon International, Hong Kong International, Zurich Airport Switzerland and Haneda, Tokyo International Airport, according to The Peninsula.

“HIA is a young and ambitious airport. We’re extremely proud of what we’ve achieved in a short period of time with a dedicated team and supportive partners. We value our passengers’ trust and recognition of our continuous effort to provide them with the best travel experience. The votes we received from the Travel+Leisure magazine’s readers are a testament to HIA’s commitment to providing five-star services,” said HIA chief operating officer Badr Mohamed Al Meer.

HIA is investing in new technologies in order to deliver on its ‘Smart Airport’ vision. It will soon start trials to evaluate the effectiveness of robots for passenger facilitation, block-chain technology for rapid and secure sharing of data across stakeholders and the potential use of augmented and virtual reality for operational concepts.