The Top 100 Airports in the world for year 2015

1. SINGAPORE CHANGI AIRPORT

Singapore Changi Airport connects customers to over 200 destinations worldwide, with 5000 arrivals and departures a week by 80 international airlines.
Mr Lee Seow Hiang, CEO of Changi Airport Group "It is a great honour to be named World's Best Airport by Skytrax for the third year running. This recognition is particularly pleasing for us as it comes at a time of transformation at Changi Airport."

2. INCHEON INT'L AIRPORT

Incheon International Airport is the largest airport in South Korea and one of the busiest airports in the world. It is a former winner of the Airport of the Year title at the World Airport Awards.

3. MUNICH AIRPORT

Munich Airport is the second busiest airport in Germany and the secondary hub for Lufthansa German Airlines. Munich Airport has connections to destinations all over the world, but much more besides. With over 150 retail stores and some 50 places where you can eat and drink, it’s like a city center, offering travelers and visitors plenty to see and do.

4. HONG KONG INT'L AIRPORT

Hong Kong International Airport serves over 100 airlines operating flights to about 180 locations worldwide, including 44 destinations on the Chinese Mainland. It is a former, multiple winner of the Airport of the Year title at the World Airport Awards.

5. TOKYO INT'L AIRPORT HANEDA

Boasting both domestic and international terminals, Tokyo International Airport Haneda plays a very important role in furthering Japan’s development as a tourism-oriented nation

6. ZURICH AIRPORT

Zürich Airport is the largest international airport of Switzerland and is the principal hub for Swiss International Air Lines.

7. CENTRAL JAPAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

In 2014,  9.8 million passengers travelled through Central Japan International Airport in Nagoya, better known as Centrair. The airport has a large domestic traffic percentage, with a number of regional routes operated to Asiana cities such as Bangkok and Singapore. Longer haul routes include Helsinki, Frankfurt, Honolulu and Detroit.

8. LONDON HEATHROW AIRPORT

London Heathrow Airport is the busiest airport in the UK and busiest airport in Europe by passenger traffic, and having been world’s busiest airport for international passengers, it has recently lost this title to Dubai Airport.

9. AMSTERDAM SCHIPHOL AIRPORT

In 2014, 55 million passengers travelled via Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, which describes itself as an AirportCity, much more than just a place where you wait until your flight takes off.

10. BEIJING CAPITAL INT'L AIRPORT

Beijing Capital International Airport is the main international airport serving Beijing and from 2014, the second-busiest airport in the world.

The World's Top 100 Airports - 2015

		2014 Rating
1	Singapore Changi	1
2	Incheon Intl Airport	2
3	Munich Airport	3
4	Hong Kong Intl	4
5	Tokyo Intl Haneda	6
6	Zurich Airport	8
7	Central Japan Intl	12
8	London Heathrow	10
9	Amsterdam Schiphol	5
10	Beijing Capital	7
11	Vancouver Intl Airport	9
12	Kansai Intl Airport	14
13	Frankfurt Airport	13
14	Narita Intl Airport	16
15	Auckland Intl Airport	11
16	Copenhagen Airport	17
17	Taiwan Taoyuan	18
18	Helsinki-Vantaa	19
19	Kuala Lumpur Intl	20
20	Brisbane Airport	23
21	Sydney Airport	21
22	Hamad Intl Airport	75
23	Cologne / Bonn	28
24	Johannesburg Airport	26
25	Melbourne Airport	24
26	Cape Town Airport	30
27	Madrid-Barajas	41
28	Durban Intl Airport	32
29	Abu Dhabi Intl Airport	22
30	Cincinnati	27
31	Shanghai Hongqiao	15
32	London City Airport	31
33	Denver Intl Airport	29
34	Dusseldorf Airport	36
35	Lima Airport	37
36	San Francisco Intl	39
37	Barcelona Airport	38
38	Vienna Intl Airport	46
39	Dubai Intl Airport	25
40	London Gatwick	35
41	Gimpo Intl Airport	33
42	Gold Coast Airport	50
43	Toronto Pearson	43
44	Atlanta	45
45	Hamburg Airport	44
46	Bahrain Intl Airport	47
47	Bangkok Airport	48
48	Paris CDG Airport	95
49	Oslo Airport	51
50	Chengdu Airport	94
51	Moscow Domodedovo	55
52	Lisbon Airport	58
53	Haikou Airport	34
54	Seattle-Tacoma	53
55	Athens Airport	56
56	Halifax Stanfield	52
57	Jakarta Intl Airport	60
58	Delhi Intl Airport	59
59	Guayaquil Airport	57
60	New York JFK	61
61	Stockholm Arlanda	65
62	Dallas/Fort Worth	54
63	Adelaide Airport	66
64	Bengaluru Airport	79
65	Porto Airport	63
66	Guangzhou Airport	42
67	Keflavik Airport	73
68	Billund Airport	62
69	Budapest Intl	71
70	Hyderabad Airport	68
71	Istanbul Atatürk	40
72	Shenzhen Airport	83
73	London Stansted	49
74	Xi'an Intl Airport	89
75	Perth Airport	76
76	Christchurch Airport	74
77	Muscat Intl Airport	69
78	Brussels Airport	72
79	Nice Côte d'Azur	77
80	Manchester Airport	78
81	Dublin Airport	92
82	Birmingham Airport	81
83	Sanya Intl Airport	82
84	Moscow Sheremetyevo	88
85	Prague Airport	70
86	Minneapolis-St Paul	67
87	Montréal Trudeau	85
88	Boston Logan	86
89	Panama Airport	84
90	Shanghai Pudong	64
91	Luxembourg Airport	91
92	Chicago O'Hare	96
93	Fukuoka Airport	99
94	Bogota El Dorado	260
95	Geneva Airport	109
96	Detroit Wayne County	87
97	Malta Airport	80
98	Los Angeles Airport	102
99	Raleigh-Durham	93
100	Mauritius Airport	111

Results may only be reproduced by prior agreement of Skytrax

MTN renews its license in Nigeria despite the prospect of a $5.2 billion fine

In the midst of negotiations over the payment of a record $5.2 billion fine to the Nigerian government, MTN has managed to get its operational license for Nigeria renewed and extended for an additional five years.

"With this renewal and extension, MTN’s operating spectrum which was issued along with the Digital Mobile License (DML) in 2001, has now been extended to 31 August 2021,”Africa's largest mobile phone company, said in a statement. The extension will cost the company $94.2 million and the amount needs to be paid by Dec. 31 for the renewal to take effect.

MTN, the leading mobile carrier in Nigeria, is in the midst of its worst business stretch since it entered the country in 2001. The fine issued last week was due to the company's failure to adhere to an edict by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to disconnect users with unregistered sim cards. The deadline to comply with the fine is Nov. 16.

The company is also a subject of an insider trading investigation in South Africa around trades made in the run-up to the announcement of the fine to shareholders. The whole crisis has been immensely costly to MTN. Since news of the fine became public, the company's shares have lost 22% in value, according to Bloomberg. Or put another way, over the course of a week, the company lost over $5 billion in market cap.

The decision by the regulator to renew MTN's operating license may be the Nigerian government's way of calming down jittery foreign investors. Ever since the fine's announcement, some analysts have suggested that the decision could undermine investor confidence about Africa's largest economy. "However way this ends, the lag effects will alter investors’ perceptions about the business environment in Nigeria," Manji Cheto, vice president of Teneo Intelligence, told Quartz.

By re-issuing MTN with a license, the Nigerian government may be saying to prospective investors that, as long as you follow the law, you are welcome to do business.

Nigerian Ebola doctor, Dr. Ada Igonoh has given birth in USA to a baby girl

Dr. Ada Igonoh, a Nigerian doctor who survived Ebola last year, has given birth to a baby girl. Igonoh—now a public health advocate and motivational speaker—detailed contracting, living with, and eventually recovering from the disease, providing one of the first accounts of surviving Ebola. Her new girl weighing 9 pounds 1 ounce was born at the Greater El-Monte Community Hospital, California and was certified Ebola-free. The World Health Organization says Igonoh is the only female medical doctor to have survived the deadly disease.

.@AdaIgonoh, the Nigerian doctor who survived Ebola last year, gave birth to a baby girl this morning. Congrats Ada! pic.twitter.com/5agttUgjvx

— tolu ogunlesi (@toluogunlesi) November 3, 2015

Igonoh was one of the physicians who treated Nigeria's first Ebola patient, Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian. She tested positive for the disease soon after Sawyer died late July, 2014. She was taken to an isolation ward, where she spent 14 days praying and reading the bible, drinking oral rehydration salt (ORS) fluids, and researching Ebola from her iPad. When she was declared Ebola-free, she called her husband who couldn't stop shouting on the phone, she wrote in her account, published in local media as well as on Bill Gates' blog:

"I still believe in miracles. None of us in the isolation ward was given any experimental drugs or so-called immune boosters. I was full of faith, yet pragmatic enough to consume as much ORS as I could, even when I wanted to give up and throw the bottles away. I researched on the disease extensively and read accounts of the survivors. I believed that even if the mortality rate was 99 percent, I would be part of the 1 percent who would survive.

I read that Dr. Kent Brantly, the American doctor who contracted Ebola in Liberia and was flown out to the United States for treatment was being criticized for attributing his healing to God when he was given the experimental drug, Zmapp. I don't claim to have all the answers to the nagging questions of life. Why do some die and some survive? Why do bad things happen to good people? Where is God in the midst of pain and suffering? Where does science end and God begin? These are issues we may never fully comprehend on this side of eternity. All I know is that I walked through the valley of the shadow of death and came out unscathed."

Nigeria could be the automotive capital of Africa In 35 years

New data from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) predicts that Nigeria can become a leading automotive hub in Africa by 2050 with an increase in local production and an expansion in new car markets.

Nigeria is very far away such ambitious targets today according to the report. PwC says this year Nigerians will import as many as 335,000 used cars, also known locally as 'Tokunbos', as well as 90,000 new cars. But just 30,000 cars will be assembled locally.

Put another way, in 2014, locally assembled cars accounted for only 15% of total car sales in Nigeria but that number could rise to 70% by 2050, according to the PwC report. In recent years, as former car assembly plants have fallen into disrepair, Nigerians have spent an increasing amount importing the majority of the vehicles on the road.

PwC's forecast is based on optimistic economic projections for Nigeria over a 35-year period, which suggests rapid GDP growth in Nigeria will visibly impact the country’s automobile sector. In the short term Nigeria's GDP growth is actually slowing down with IMF cutting forecasts to 4% from 6.4% due to lower oil prices.

But GDP growth was not the sole condition necessary for the automobile industry to boom.  With 63% of Nigerians unable to afford a car without some form of financial support (pdf, pg 10), facilitating access to vehicle financing loans is also important. Last year, less than a third of all new cars sold in Nigeria, were sold to retail customers.

“One of the biggest barriers is lack of credit. Most of the economies do not sell cars through a cash basis but they buy through borrowing, this needs to be addressed in Nigeria,” Andrew Nevin, partner Africa strategy and operations at PwC Nigeria has said.

Similarly, the challenge with porous borders which allow car smuggling must be addressed to ensure that local production is protected. Tightening borders and regulating importation will help Nigeria conserve foreign exchange as its annual car imports value—half of which is believed to be smuggled- stands at $3.4 billion.

One of the key reasons for the progress in the growth of the local automotive industry is the National Automotive Industry Development Plan, an automotive policy announced two years ago.

The policy has already attracted interest and investment to Nigeria’s automobile industry as 30 car brands have obtained licenses to start assembly of cars in Nigeria but its implementation must remain enforced to allow for consistent growth. Back in August the government  awarded licences for 12 new vehicle assembly plants. Names included Toyota, Honda, General Appliances West Africa and Nigeria-China Manufacturing Company.

Over the years, the market has been saturated by imported used cars (Tokunbos) which were popular among the middle class due to flexible pricing compared to imported new cars but the expected spike in local production suggests that the importation of used cars will be curtailed by 2034. Nigeria’s annual new car market currently stands at over 50,000 but with projected growth, it can rise to as much 7.6 million in 2050.

Just like Nigerians, Ordinary Angolans are asking: where did all the oil money go?

A few years ago, Luanda, the capital of Angola, was on every ambitious investor’s lips. With large infrastructure and housing projects rapidly changing its appearance, the city seemed to be leaving behind the country’s 27-year civil war. But hopes for renewal are slowly dissipating as the price of the commodity on which Angola’s future was being constructed – oil – steadily declines.

Angola is Africa’s second-largest oil producer. It is one of the countries that have been hardest hit by the fall in oil prices. The oil crash forced Angola to slash its 2015 budget by US$17 billion (a 25% reduction). Construction companies are having difficulties paying their workers, and the Angolan central bank has devalued the currency, the kwanza. Construction threatens to screech to a halt.

[pullquote]The fantasy built on oil is crumbling, showing the benefits were barely felt outside privileged sites of elite consumption.[/pullquote]

The fantasy built on oil is crumbling, showing that its benefits were barely felt outside privileged sites of elite consumption. As criticism of the government mounts and Angolans begin to ask what actually happened to the glut of oil dollars, Luanda acts as a lesson that spectacle is no substitute for substantial political and economic change.

The post-war oil boom

Angola’s economic challenges appear especially dramatic given the optimism the country inspired following the end of its civil war (1975–2002). The war left Angola shattered. Infrastructure was destroyed, an estimated 4.1 million people were internally displaced, and the economy outside of the oil sector collapsed. When peace was announced in April 2002, Angola’s future was uncertain.

This changed when the international price of crude oil rose from US$34.86 a barrel to US$146.12 at its peak in 2008. Combined with increased oil production, this meant that Angola went from financially fragile to stable.

Eschewing the Bretton Woods institutions which tried to impose financial governance conditionalities on loans for post-conflict reconstruction, Angola initiated a system of oil-backed credit lines predominantly, but not only, with China. The deals involved the creditor extending a line of funding in return for Angola selling a fixed amount of future oil to the creditor. Amounting to billions of US dollars, these credit lines gave Angola access to the resources for reconstruction.

The national reconstruction project outlined in the 2003-04 government program included initiatives for improved social services and poverty reduction. But the primary focus was on real estate and infrastructure.

Luanda, home to 6.5 million people – just under one-quarter of Angola’s population – was the centre of these investments. Oil profits were sunk into a number of redevelopment plans, including:

• state land reserves for urbanisation initiatives;
• the construction of a large rehousing zone, Zango, for people forcibly removed for reconstruction projects;
• the building of a satellite city, Kilamba, to eventually house 500,000 people; and
• high rises in the city centre and real estate developments in the city’s southern areas aimed at high income earners.

Prices went through the roof, leading to Luanda consistently being ranked as the most expensive city in the world for expatriates.

The Kilamba Kiaxi housing development, a Chinese-built project in Kilamba, outside Luanda

No oil benefits for the poor

For those living in the city centre and other wealthy areas, it really did feel like a new world was emerging. But for three-quarters of Luandans who live in informal settlements, nothing changed significantly. In fact, their urban status was increasingly uncertain.

Central to the creation of the new Luanda was the mass demolition of slum areas, referred to locally as musseques or bairros, and the removal of residents to rehousing zones.

[pullquote]Between 2004 and 2014 Angola failed to diversify its economy significantly. Now, foreign reserves are drying up.[/pullquote]

Many of those affected were not rehoused. They simply lost their homes and land. There was little legal recourse, as the Angolan state is the ultimate owner of all land. A 2004 land law removed the legality of good-faith occupation, and it is extremely difficult to legally register land. Luanda’s fantasy was therefore being constructed on the increasing precarity of the majority.

Lack of economic and political transformation

After the oil price crash Luandans are left wondering what was actually achieved. Between 2004 and 2014 Angola failed to diversify its economy significantly. Foreign reserves are drying up and inflation hit a three-year high of 10.4% in July this year.

This has been partially driven by a fuel price increase imposed after the fuel subsidy was slashed as a means of decreasing spending. This has led to a rise in food and consumer goods prices, negatively affecting even the small gains that the urban poor made during the boom years.

Ever stronger evidence is emerging of financial mismanagement and large scale corruption in the administration of oil funds. A 2011 IMF report identified that public funds of $32 billion linked to the state oil company, Sonangol, were unaccounted for. Although it later found that $27.2 billion was due to unrecorded expenditure by Sonangol on behalf of the Angolan government, this left open the question of what had happened to the outstanding amount.

China has also launched investigations into allegations of corruption involving its economic deals in Angola. This has led to the arrest of Su Shulin, former head of Sinopec, the Chinese state oil company responsible for oil investment in Angola, and of Sam Pa, the kingpin of the Queensway Group, who brokered many of the agreements between Angola and Chinese business.

While Angola is now searching for new sources of financing, seen in its issuing of $US1.5 billion of Eurobonds, the general feeling is that its economic problems are set to continue.

Political repression is on the increase

Angola's President Jose Eduardo dos Santos (C)

José Eduardo dos Santos has been in power in Angola since 1979.

A nascent urban youth movement emerged in 2011 calling for changes to the political system. Their demands included respect for civil liberties and the resignation of president José Eduardo dos Santos, who has been in power since 1979. He leads the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, which has been in charge since 1975.

Their protests have been small but potent. These hesitant signs of a political opening up have been crushed as the government has sought to contain political dissent. Seventeen youth activists have been charged with attempting to overthrow the government. Fifteen have been detained for more than 100 days.

But crushing political dissent will not solve the country or the city’s problems. To bring meaningful change, financial resources have to be orientated towards the needs of the majority.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

How the two manufacturing hubs of Mexico and China stack up

With wages rising rapidly in China, Mexico once again has become an attractive manufacturing hub—even to the Chinese.

On Oct. 27, the state-owned China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) signed a preliminary agreement with the Mexican state of Jalisco to build an industrial park that would potentially house dozens of Chinese manufacturers, Reuters reported.

The deal underscores the big shift in production costs across the two countries.

In 2000, workers in Mexico's manufacturing sector earned nearly 60% more than their Chinese counterparts, according to the Boston Consulting Group. Now they earn 11% less.

Adjusted for productivity, the gap is even bigger.

“Mexico has continued to stay more productive than China per worker,” Justin Rose, a partner at Boston Consulting Group in Chicago, told Quartz. “Sometime in 2011 or 2012, from a labor-cost perspective, it became cheaper to put manufacturing capacity in Mexico than in China.”

Other production costs, such as energy, also have gone down in Mexico while climbing in China.

Mexico is also much closer to the US, the world’s biggest consumer market and one of the brighter spots in the global economy. Jalisco’s governor, Aristóteles Sandoval, says the CCCC project (link in Spanish) would turn his state into a gateway for China to the rest of his country, and to the US.

The proximity is a big advantage for companies that deal in products that need to be quickly turned around, said Foster Finley, a managing director at consulting firm AlixPartners.

“All of a sudden if there’s a design change, you’re comparing right next door with a long way away,” he told Quartz. “That’s a factor.”

Another advantage for producers in Mexico: the Mexican peso has weakened considerably against the Chinese currency, making it, comparatively, all the more affordable to produce there.

Lionel Messi is the new global ambassador of TATA India’s largest automaker

India's largest automaker, Tata Motors, has roped in Argentine soccer icon Lionel Messi as its global brand ambassador for the passenger vehicles category—where the company has been struggling.

This is the first time that Messi will endorse an Indian brand.

"The idea is to engage with young people, and we found that football and Messi had a lot of connect with the youth," Mayank Pareek, Tata Motors' president for the passenger vehicle business unit, told the Press Trust of India. The company's contract with Messi is for two years, which can be extended.

Tata Motors holds just a 5.72% market share in India's passenger vehicle market. The company has seen tepid growth in the segment during the current fiscal year, with sales even falling month-on-month sometimes:

But, the company says it is on the verge of turning its fortunes.

"Tata Motors is at a defining juncture in its evolution as it gears up to disrupt the passenger vehicles industry," the company said in a statement. "Taking these offerings to consumers with aggressive and innovative marketing is an equally important area of focus for the company."

The new brand ambassador will also help the Indian auto major "connect with its global audience effectively," it said.

The advertising campaign—the first part of it is ready to be rolled out—has been over five months in the making. Ads for the campaign have been directed by Spanish producer and director Daniel Ben Mayor, and shot in Barcelona. There are also plans to launch merchandise range for the campaign with Messi.

Will it work? In cricket-mad India, football's following, though growing, is relatively small. But an endorsement from the world's best footballer is bound to get attention.

Over 26 million Nigeria bank accounts could be closed for not having Bank Verification Number (BVN)

Nearly 20 months ago, Nigeria’s Central Bank called for the country's 52 million bank account holders to undergo a registration process to obtain a unique Bank Verification Number (BVN ) which would serve as the first national numeric identifier.

The Central Bank hopes giving everyone a unique number, similar to the U.S.' social security number, could help reduce banking fraud such as identify theft and help improve security in the country's financial systems overall.

But despite calls to action and an extensive media campaign to get Nigerians to register, the Central Bank says it has failed to achieve a registration target of 50% and as such, more than 26 million account holders may be losing access to their accounts.

The problem seems to be that the process of registering for the Bank Verification Number was not as smooth as advertised. The Central Bank sold it as a simple process which could be completed within 24 hours but several days after registering, many were still waiting to have their own unique number generated.

The registration process involves the collection of biometric data and a photograph after which account holders are issued unique Bank Verification Numbers which, in addition to biometric data, will be used to authenticate and confirm transactions.

Launched in February last year, the Central Bank announced that the registration process would end by June 30, 2015. However, with Nigerians largely unresponsive, the Central Bank was forced to move the deadline for registration to October 31 after which it has insisted no further extension will be granted. The penalty for failing to register for the Bank Verification Number is a loss of access to the bank account.

Long queues and confusion were a recurring theme throughout the account verification process as banks often seemed unprepared for the mass exercise. Taking the Nigerian diaspora into consideration, the Central Bank ensured that the verification process could be undertaken in Nigerian embassies but the process seemed to lack organization and in London, the embassy was forced to call in the police to quell the disorder after huge crowds showed up.