Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) celebrated its 75th birthday on June 24 with parties at various airline gates, refreshments, giveaways and a special water salute by the BWI Marshall Airport Fire and Rescue Department for the 75th daily arrival.
Singapore’s Changi Airport is also celebrating a birthday
Singapore’s Changi Airport is celebrating its 60th birthday this year with plenty of fun activities as well.
#NEW: Celebrate Singapore’s 60th birthday with an exciting line-up of activities at Changi Airport and Jewel! With a homecoming concert featuring local artistes, stunning horticultural displays and a charity walk – together, we make magic. Find out more: https://t.co/zxFIvQGSHJpic.twitter.com/omY2u6y6AT
San Antonio International Airport (still) has cows
Three painted cow sculptures have mooved into San Antonio International Airport and will be auctioned off in August. While the cows are hanging around, SAT is hosting a photo challenge.
CowParade has MOOOved into SAT, so we're hosting a photo challenge to celebrate! 🐄📸 Through the end of August, you can snap a picture with all three painted cow art pieces when you visit the airport. Be sure to tag SAT & use hashtag #CowParade2025 when you post to social! 🐮✨ pic.twitter.com/Sdp4KPrwb1
— San Antonio International Airport (@SATairport) June 24, 2025
Here’s a better look at those painted cow sculptures.
#CowParade2025 has MOOOved into SAT! 🐄🎨 We're excited to have 3 painted cows at our airport before they're auctioned off to benefit @CHRISTUSHealth in September.
MEET THE COWS! 🐮✨ -Stampede, Chris Celusniak -Good MOOd, Allison Gregory -Love Note to the Nations, Ashley Rogers pic.twitter.com/3XyKydjSqY
— San Antonio International Airport (@SATairport) June 10, 2025
Singapore’s Changi Airport (SIN) gets high marks and many awards for its amenities, including everything from art and elaborate gardens to free movies and the world’s largest indoor waterfall.
Changi is also known for its customer service.
A few days ago, “due to inclement weather and lightning warnings,” the airport sent out a message on social media to inform passengers of possible delays “in the presentation of baggage as we prioritize the safety of our ground handling staff.”
While passengers waited for their bags to arrive, the airport rolled out carts with complimentary refreshments.
We’ve seen some US airlines send refreshments to the gate area when a flight is very delayed. But this is the first time we’ve seen complimentary refreshments sent to the bag claim area. And while it won’t make the bags arrive faster, it’s a nice gesture.
And so we’re declaring this the Airport Amenity of the Week in hopes that US airlines might take note.
It’s only Monday, but we already have a nomination for Airport Amenity of the Week.
Singapore’s Changi Airport, which already wows travelers with free amenities that include butterfly and cactus gardens, movie theaters, and the world’s tallest indoor waterfall, now offers free bicycle rentals to passengers with layovers in Singapore.
The year-long program offers layover passengers free two-hour use of a bicycle to explore outdoor attractions in the airport’s vicinity, including the Jurassic Mile, a free outdoor display of more than 20 life-sized dinosaurs and pre-historic creatures that stretch out over half a mile.
Layover passengers can cycle along the Changi Airport Connector cycling path that links to Singapore’s wider park connector network and visit beaches, Bedok Jetty – a popular fishing spot, the East Coast Lagoon Hawker Centre and nearby residential neighborhoods
To make it easy to explore Singapore on a layover, the airport has mapped out four different routes lasting two to six hours and provides pay-per-use shower facilities by the bike return point.
Want to go for a bike ride on your Changi Airport layover?
To take advantage of Changi Airport’s free bike rentals, you’ll need to have a layover of at least 5 1/2 hours but less than 24 hours between flights.
Advance reservations for free bike rentals at Singapore’s Changi Airport are available here.
So many new things are popping up at airports for the holiday season. Here are just some of the items we spotted over the weekend.
Toy Planes at St. Louis Lambert Int’l Airport
Toys Take Flight is a new exhibit by the Field House Museum now in the Lambert Gallery at St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL). In addition to toy airplanes and model plane kits, the exhibit includes some great photographs.
Avatar at Sinagpore Changi Airport
The Light & Sound show inspired by 'Avatar: The Way of Water' (in cinemas 15 December 2022) plays exclusively at the HSBC Rain Vortex twice nightly till 2 Jan. Catch it at either 8.30pm or 10.30pm when you're at #JewelChangiAirport! #ChangiFestiveVillagepic.twitter.com/x6ifwYmAoY
Little Free Libraries Filling Up at Seattle-Tacoma Int’l Airport
You may have noticed Little Free Libraries in your neighborhood encouraging people to leave books and take books. Some airports around the country host Little Free Libraries too, and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) is the newest addition. Look for two artist-painted Little Free Libraries at SEA. One is at the top of the escalator leading down to the SEA Underground train at Concourse A and the other is in front of the Children’s Play Area in Concourse A.
Last time we passed through the airport we were pleased to see that the Free Little Library by the play area was chock full of kids books.
And we’re always glad to learn more about airport history over on the AirportHistory.org site.
The team there recently posted their top five illustrated airport history stories from 2021, starting with #5: a photo feature celebrating Vancouver International Airport on its 90th anniversary. You can see that feature here.
And #2 on their list is a roundup of the world’s 10 busiest airports at the dawn of the Jet Age in 1961. See that story here.
And we are not surprised to see that their #1 story for 2021 is a piece featuring some great photos celebrating the 40th anniversary of Singapore’s Changi Airport, one of our favorites. See that story here.
There are many contests, and many ways, to pick “The Best Airport in the World.”
One of the most coveted is the Skytrax World Airport Awards. And this year’s awards present a bit of an upset.
For the past eight years Singapore’s Changi Airport (SIA) has won the Skytrax award for Best Airport in the World, but this year Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar has claimed that prize. The airport also took home prizes for Best Airport in the Middle East, the World’s Best Airport in the 25 to 35 million Passenger category, and for the Best Airport Staff in the Middle East.
Here’s the rundown of the Skytrax 10 Top Airports for 2021
Hamad International Airport
Tokyo Haneda Airport
Singapore Changi Airport
Incheon International Airport
Narita International Airport
Munich Airport
Zurich Airport
London Heathrow Airport
Kansai International Airport
Hong Kong International Airport
Some other airports winners of note: Istanbul Airport got the nod for World’s Most Improved Airport. Singapore’s Changi Airport got the award for World’s Best Airport Staff. And Tokyo Haneda Airport was declared the World’s Cleanest Airport.
No U.S. airport made the Global Top Ten list, but here are the winners in the Best Airports in North America category this year:
Vancouver International Airport
George Bush Intercontinental Airport
Toronto Pearson Airport
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport
Denver International Airport
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
Houston Hobby Airport
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
San Fransico International Airport
Montreal International Airport
Another category we like to call out in the Skytrax contest is the World’s Best Airport Hotels. But because many airport hotels have and still are being used for COVID arrival quarantine purposes or were fully or partially closed during the height of the pandemic, Skytrax decided to skip that category this year. The Best Airport Leisure Amenities category, Best Airport Shopping, and some other categories were skipped this year as well.
As we enter another week of staying off the road and close to home, we find ourselves missing the fun of hanging out in airports that go the extra mile to make the terminals enjoyable.
With lots of greenery and gardens, cool shops and restaurants and plenty of entertaining art, Singapore’s Changi Airport is one of the best.
Here are just a few of Changi’s treasures we look forward to seeing on a future trip.
A Million Times at Changi
Kinetic Rain sculpture
Light & Sound Show – Rain Vortex at Jewel Changi Airport
Even if spending time in an airport was once your least favorite part of traveling, we bet standing in line to go through security is probably sounding pretty good.
And when the time comes to begin traveling again, we hope that adventure will begin or end in one of the winners from the 2020 Skytrax World Airport Awards.
To no one’s surprise, Singapore’s Changi Airport wins the award for the World’s Best Airport for the eighth consecutive year.
Already a four-terminal wonderland of shops, restaurants, gardens, wide-open spaces and fun activities, in 2019 Changi opened The Jewel.
The bonus addition connects three of the airport’s four terminals and is filled with more shops, restaurants, gardens and activities built around a circular 130-foot tall Rain Vortex that is the world’s tallest indoor waterfall.
Courtesy Changi Airport
Changi also won the award for the World’s Best Airport Leisure Amenities, ahead of South Korea’s Incheon Airport and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.
Here’s the full list of the winners for World’s Top 10 Airports 2020:
Singapore Changi Airport
Tokyo Haneda Airport
Hamad International Airport Doha
Incheon International Airport
Munich Airport
Hong Kong International Airport
Narita International Airport
Central Japan International Airport
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport
Kansai International Airport
Richmond, British Columbia on December 16, 2015. (BEN NELMS for YVR)
In the Best Airports in North America category, Vancouver International Airport (YVR) took the top spot, followed by Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG), Denver International Airport (DEN) and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL).
No North American airport shows up on the 2020 list of winners for World’s Cleanest Airports (Tokyo’s Haneda Airport wins that category) or World’s Best Airport Dining (Narita International Airport in Tokyo wins there).
If you’re heading to an airport now or sometime in the future, the new normal is going to be, well, different.
Masks for everyone, please.
As more and more airlines now require each employee and passenger to cover their mouth and nose with a mask or cloth, airports from Seattle to Singapore are adding that requirement to anyone entering the terminals.
Beginning May 18, all passengers, visitors, and workers, including Port employees, in the public areas of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport will be required to wear cloth face coverings.https://t.co/M1tVil3wbx
— Seattle-Tacoma Intl. Airport (@flySEA) May 10, 2020
Airports in Asia have been scanning travelers’ temperatures for quite some time.
Now Fiumicino Airport in Rome is using ‘smart helmets’ to check the temperature of passengers.
The device is worn by airport workers and allows them to check and measure the body temperature of passengers at a distance.
Frontier Airlines, which stepped back from charging an extra fee to keep middle seats free, will begin pre-boarding temperature screenings for passengers on June 1.
Customers will be screened via touchless thermometers prior to boarding.
If the temperature reading is 100.4 degrees or higher, they will be given time to rest and, if the flight departure time allows, get another temperature check.
“If the second check is 100.4 degrees or higher, a Frontier gate agent will explain to the customer that they will not be flying that day for the health and safety of others,” the airline said in its statement. Any passenger with a 100.4 degrees or higher fever will be offered the option to rebook travel on a later date or make other arrangements.
And don’t be surprised if in the not-too-distant future TSA officers scan you for a fever at the same time they’re looking through your stuff.
PRESS RELEASE: A4A announced that its member carriers are supporting the @TSA to begin checking the temperature of the traveling public and customer-facing employees as long as necessary during the COVID-19 public health crisis. https://t.co/GYxgkfBI5u
— Airlines for America (@AirlinesDotOrg) May 9, 2020
What do you think of these moves? Will it make you feel safer when you fly?
On Tuesday, Singapore Airlines (a codeshare partner of Alaska Airlines) celebrated the inaugural non-stop flight between Seattle Tacoma International Airport (SEA) and Singapore’s Changi Airport (SIN) with a lion dance and ribbon cutting at the gate and a water canon salute.
Seattle now becomes the fourth U.S. city to boast non-stop service to Singapore, joining Los Angeles, Newark and San Francisco.
During September, the flight will between Seattle and Singapore three times a week and expand to four flights a week in October.
The new SEA – SIN Singapore Airlines flight is the first-ever nonstop flight from SEA Airport to Southeast Asia. And, at 15-hours and 50-minutes, it is now also the longest longest nonstop flight from SEA airport.
The new flight is also the inspiration for a cool music video.
Singapore Airlines commissioned Seattle-based producer and musician Chong the Nomad to use an A350-900 aircraft – the same type being used for the SIA-SIN flight – as her musical instrument.
