Singapore’s Changi Airport has more retail and dining options relative to its passenger numbers than any other major airport in the world, according to a new study that finds Asian hubs dominating a global ranking of the most commercially rich terminals.
The April 2026 report by DeCard, a Singapore-based stablecoin payment card provider, counted the total number of shops and restaurants inside 10 of the world’s busiest airports and calculated how many exist for every million passengers, creating a standardised measure of commercial density. The study comes as the global duty-free retail market surpasses $50 billion annually, with airports competing intensively for the spending that now accounts for roughly 40% of their total revenue.
Changi topped the ranking by a wide margin. The airport operates more than 500 retail stores and over 270 restaurants across its terminals, giving its 58.9 million annual passengers nearly 800 places to shop or eat. That translates to 6.62 spending spots per million visitors, more than twice the rate of the second-placed airport. Changi’s non-aeronautical revenue reached $1.17 billion, the highest of all airports in the study.
Seoul’s Incheon International Airport ranked second, buoyed by its more than 200 restaurants, which the study found was more dining choice than airports three times its size. Tokyo’s Haneda Airport came third, offering around 240 shops and 190 restaurants to its 87 million annual passengers. Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport ranked fourth, and Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) rounded out the top five.
Six of the 10 airports in the study were Asian. The Philippines’ Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and Thailand’s Suvarnabhumi Airport both made the list alongside Qatar’s Hamad International Airport and Canada’s Toronto Pearson International Airport.
Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport placed last, with just 43 shops serving close to 70 million annual passengers, a reflection of what the report described as the challenge facing airports built before modern retail design became central to terminal planning.
“Singapore figured this out early and built Changi Airport to be a shopping mall that also happens to have planes,” a DeCard representative said. “Other airports are trying to copy that model, but it is hard when you are working with older terminals that were not designed for heavy retail from the start.”
