As businesses become more global, international business trips are a regular occurrence for many workers. On average, about 1.3 million business trips occur each day in the United States alone, meaning that the need to carry out work while travelling is increasingly vital, with even the journey itself providing the opportunity to tick some items of the to-do this.
In response to this, it is becoming increasingly important for airports to take into account the needs of passengers working remotely while they wait to fly.
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PowWowNow conducted a study to find out the best airports around the globe for remote working, based on quality of service, passenger sentiment, punctuality of flights, number of lounges and Wi-Fi score. Based on data provided by AirHelp and LoungeBuddy, the video web conferencing provider created an overall index of the top 36 airports, with each airport given an overall score from 1 to 10 to reveal the best airports for remote working.
The best airports for remote working
With an overall score of 7.4 out of 10, Narita International in Tokyo and Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok came out on top, closely followed by Moscow Sheremetyevo and Singapore Changi Airport.
Narita International Airport saw a passenger influx of 40,631,193 across 2017, the second fewest number of passengers out of the airports included in the survey, meaning it is considerably less busy, creating a better setting to work from. Narita and Suvarnabhumi Airport also offer free WiFi and over 30 lounges, making them more convenient and comfortable for working on the go.
Interestingly, four out of the top five airports for remote working were found in Asia, suggesting that airports in the region are particularly geared towards this purpose.
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By GlobalDataLeonardo Da Vinci Airport in Rome and London Heathrow took the crown for the best airports for remote working in Europe. Heathrow has 44 lounges, the highest number of work areas in any airport around the world, meaning there is space to escape the crowds at the 6th busiest airport on the list.
The airports that score badly for remote working
At the other end of the scale, the research also revealed the least popular airports in the world. Amongst the top 36 best airports for remote working, London Gatwick stood out as least popular one with an overall score of 0.6 out of 10. Atlanta International is almost as unpopular as London Gatwick, With a score of 0.9.
Unsurprisingly, these two airports also scored poorly for remote working, both making an appearance in the bottom ten of the airports surveyed.
Barcelona-El Prat also fares badly for remote working and is the only airport on the list without free Wi-Fi access in its lounges, making keeping up-to-date with work emails a challenge.
Jason Downes, Managing Director at PowWowNow explains the importance of airports offering a good environment to work in:
“More and more people have to travel for work, which is why it’s so important to be able to work on the go. This is even more apparent at airports, where most passengers wait a couple of hours for their flights, it makes sense to make use of that time to finish off work.
“If you’re a constant business traveller, look out for the less busy airports which offer comfortable areas where you are able to work, with a free WiFi connection and a good quality of service.”
