What are the cheapest and most expensive airports for award flights?

I’m sure you know by now that award tickets aren’t completely free. While the airfare is covered by miles, passengers still have to pay the taxes and surcharges in cash.

You don’t notice these as much on commercial tickets because they’re baked into the total price, and airlines will usually tweak the airfare to keep the overall amount palatable. But with award tickets, the entire burden falls on the passenger, and can be substantial. If you’re redeeming a Business Class ticket on Emirates from London to Singapore, for example, you’ll pay S$1,590 in taxes and surcharges. That’s a hefty sum to pay for a “free” ticket!

Fortunately, Singapore Airlines eliminated fuel surcharges in 2017, which means you only need to worry about the airport taxes. And since these can differ significantly depending on geography, there is the potential to minimise cash payments on award tickets by choosing your departure point carefully.

In this post we’ll look at the cheapest and most expensive airports to depart from across the Singapore Airlines network.

Location, location, location

Here’s an example showing how some simple repositioning or sequencing could lead to big cash savings.

Suppose you want to visit the UK and Spain on holiday, flying into Spain, then journeying up to the UK and flying back to Singapore. As a Business Class passenger, your flight home would include a whopping S$476.42 of taxes, thanks to the UK’s notorious Air Passenger Duty.

But what if you sequenced it the other way by visiting the UK first, then heading to Spain and ultimately back to Singapore? In this case, your flight home would have just S$30.84 of taxes, a saving of nearly S$450!

Overall picture: Most and least expensive airports

Before we look at individual regions, here’s a summary of the total taxes and fees you’ll pay on a one-way award redemption to Singapore, for all the destinations in the Singapore Airlines network.

Within the SIA route network, the most expensive airport taxes on average are from Europe, while the USA, perhaps surprisingly, has the lowest. Of course, there can be large variations within regions, as our earlier example of London and Barcelona showed.

No prizes for guessing that the most expensive airports to fly from are based in the UK, thanks to APD!

A couple of points to note.

Taxes are usually the same regardless of cabin

Generally speaking, you will pay the same airport taxes and fees regardless of cabin. 

However, exceptions apply for Hong Kong, France, the Maldives and the UK.

In the UK, the Air Passenger Duty (APD) adds a significant chunk to the cost of plane tickets. For long-haul international flights, you’ll have to pay £94 in Economy, and £224 in Premium Economy, Business and First Class, on top of the other charges imposed by the airport.

In France, the Air Passenger Solidarity Tax is charged at €40 for Economy and Premium Economy passengers, and €120 for Business and First Class passengers.

In Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Airport Construction Fee payable on flights to Singapore is charged at HKD 90 for Economy and Premium Economy Class passengers, and HKD 160 for Business and First Class passengers.

And in the Maldives, the Airport Service Charge and Airport Development Fee were recently hiked to US$100 for Economy and Premium Economy Class passengers, US$240 for Business Class passengers, and US$480 for First Class passengers (good thing Singapore Airlines doesn’t offer First Class to the Maldives!).

Incidentally, Singapore will soon join the ranks of countries with differentiated airport taxes by cabin class, when it introduces the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Levy from October 2026. This is a “green tax” which ranges from S$1 to S$41.60, depending on cabin and class of travel.

Singapore flights to be hit by sustainable aviation fuel levy from October 2026

Stopovers can add to costs

A stopover may result in higher taxes than a non-stop flight, because of the additional fees charged by the transit airport. For example, flying non-stop to Singapore from New York JFK costs US$5.60, increasing to US$29.30 if a stopover in Frankfurt is added.

However, this may not always be the case. You will pay the same €20.39 when you fly from Barcelona, whether you take the non-stop or one-stop flight (via Milan).

Southeast Asia

Airport	Business	Economy
🇰🇭 Siem Reap	S$44.93	S$44.93
🇰🇭 Phnom Penh	S$44.93	S$44.93
🇲🇲 Yangon	S$36.26	S$36.26
🇻🇳 Hanoi	S$34.86	S$34.86
🇹🇭 Bangkok	S$32.23	S$32.23
🇹🇭 Phuket	S$32.23	S$32.23
🇻🇳 Da Nang	S$28.42	S$28.42
🇻🇳 Ho Chi Minh	S$28.42	S$28.42
🇲🇾 Kuala Lumpur	S$26.01	S$26.01
🇵🇭 Cebu	S$22.46	S$22.46
🇵🇭 Manila	S$20.79	S$20.79
🇮🇩 Jakarta	S$20.40	S$20.40
🇮🇩 Medan	S$20.40	S$20.40
🇲🇾 Penang	S$18.72	S$18.72
🇮🇩 Bali	S$18.38	S$18.38
🇮🇩 Surabaya	S$17.61	S$17.61
🇧🇳 Brunei	S$12.00	S$12.00

Airport taxes within the region are generally low and below S$45, making Singapore’s S$65.20 — which will soon increase further — a relative outlier. Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines are on the lower end, while Cambodia, Hanoi and Myanmar are relatively more expensive.

From North Asia

Airport	Business	Economy
🇭🇰 Hong Kong	S$70.16	S$58.61
🇯🇵 Osaka	S$38.14	S$38.14
🇯🇵 Nagoya	S$34.60	S$34.60
🇯🇵 Tokyo (Narita)	S$34.27	S$34.27
🇯🇵 Tokyo (Haneda)	S$32.54	S$32.54
🇯🇵 Sapporo	S$29.74	S$29.74
🇯🇵 Fukuoka	S$29.08	S$29.08
🇰🇷 Seoul	S$21.29	S$21.29
🇹🇼 Taipei	S$20.36	S$20.36
🇰🇷 Busan	S$16.86	S$16.86
🇨🇳 Beijing	S$16.49	S$16.49
🇨🇳 Chengdu	S$16.49	S$16.49
🇨🇳 Chongqing	S$16.49	S$16.49
🇨🇳 Xiamen	S$16.49	S$16.49
🇨🇳 Shanghai	S$16.49	S$16.49
🇨🇳 Guangzhou	S$16.49	S$16.49
🇨🇳 Shenzhen	S$16.49	S$16.49

Hong Kong is the priciest airport in North Asia to fly from, particularly if you’re in First or Business Class. Otherwise, the taxes in this region are fairly modest and below S$50. Japan ranges from ~S$30-40, significantly lower than the last time I compiled these figures in 2019 owing to the depreciation of the JPY.

Regardless of which airport in mainland China you fly from, you’ll pay a standard CNY90 departure tax.

From South Asia

Airport	Business	Economy
🇲🇻 Male	S$308.07	S$128.36
🇧🇩 Dhaka	S$104.01	S$104.01
🇱🇰 Colombo	S$78.00	S$78.00
🇮🇳 Hyderabad	S$43.49	S$43.49
🇮🇳 Bengaluru	S$43.35	S$43.35
🇮🇳 Kolkata	S$40.24	S$40.24
🇮🇳 Ahmedabad	S$38.29	S$38.29
🇳🇵 Kathmandu	S$37.10	S$37.10
🇮🇳 Delhi	S$29.19	S$29.19
🇮🇳 Chennai	S$28.77	S$28.77
🇮🇳 Mumbai	S$28.60	S$28.60
🇮🇳 Kochi	S$27.70	S$27.70

Within South Asia, the Maldives takes the cake as the most expensive airport to fly from, especially if you’re in a premium cabin. The recent hikes in airport taxes, Green Tax and T-GST have made this already expensive destination even pricier to visit, and I can’t say I’m itching to return.

This is also a good time to remember that what you pay for is not necessarily what you get. Delhi’s modernised airport is generally well-regarded (Best Airport in India & South Asia according to Skytrax, if that means anything to you), and charges just under S$30 worth of taxes. Meanwhile, Dhaka charges S$104, and let’s just say the reviews are mixed (thankfully, a new terminal is supposedly opening soon).

From MENA

Airport	Business	Economy
🇦🇪 Dubai	S$45.44	S$45.44
🇿🇦 Cape Town (via JNB)	S$43.13	S$43.13
🇿🇦 Johannesburg	S$43.13	S$43.13

There isn’t a lot of variability within the MENA region, with Dubai, Cape Town and Johannesburg all attracting roughly the same taxes.

From Australia & New Zealand

Airport	Business	Economy
🇦🇺 Darwin	S$125.81	S$125.81
🇦🇺 Adelaide	S$106.54	S$106.54
🇦🇺 Cairns	S$100.77	S$100.77
🇦🇺 Sydney	S$100.14	S$100.14
🇦🇺 Melbourne	S$98.50	S$98.50
🇦🇺 Brisbane	S$97.04	S$97.04
🇦🇺 Perth	S$82.87	S$82.87
🇳🇿 Auckland	S$46.43	S$46.43
🇳🇿 Christchurch	S$39.71	S$39.71

Airport taxes are significantly lower in New Zealand than Australia, but remember, New Zealand charges international arrivals an International Visitor Levy which costs NZ$100, on top of NZ$17 for an eTA!

Moreover, if you’re planning a trans-Tasman trip, you’ll still get hit with the full amount of airport taxes when flying between Australia and New Zealand, so there’s not much reason to reposition here for the purposes of cost savings alone.

Even within Australia, there can be significant variations in taxes. It costs S$82.87 to fly from Perth, compared to S$125.81 from Darwin, a 50% difference.

It’s worth noting that Australia is one of the few countries to charge an arrivals tax for incoming passengers, which will add an extra S$22.70 to S$38.70 to the cost of your flight from Singapore (more on this later).

From Europe

Airport	Business	Economy
🇬🇧 London Heathrow	S$476.42	S$251.03
🇬🇧 Manchester	S$431.83	S$206.44
🇬🇧 London Gatwick	S$423.69	S$198.31
🇫🇷 Paris	S$266.73	S$145.73
🇩🇪 Frankfurt	S$192.93	S$192.93
🇩🇪 Munich	S$166.83	S$166.83
🇳🇱 Amsterdam	S$127.32	S$127.32
🇩🇰 Copenhagen	S$112.98	S$112.98
🇧🇪 Brussels	S$60.86	S$60.86
🇮🇹 Rome	S$60.15	S$60.15
🇨🇭 Zurich	S$57.01	S$57.01
🇮🇹 Milan	S$39.19	S$39.19
🇹🇷 Istanbul	S$34.66	S$34.66
🇪🇸 Barcelona (via MXP)	S$30.84	S$30.84
🇪🇸 Barcelona (non-stop)	S$30.84	S$30.84

Europe is a classic example of how repositioning can result in big savings. And unlike other regions, it can often make practical sense, since tourists frequently visit multiple countries on a single trip, and intra-Europe flights/train rides are relatively affordable.

We’ve already seen the big disparity between the UK and Spain, but other (relatively) low-cost places to originate from include Turkey, Italy and surprisingly, Switzerland. France, Germany, Netherlands and Denmark are significantly more expensive, so try to fly into these destinations rather than out of them. 

From USA

Airport	Business	Economy
🇺🇸 New York (via FRA)	S$37.61	S$37.61
🇺🇸 Los Angeles (via NRT)	S$23.11	S$23.11
🇺🇸 New York (non-stop)	S$7.19	S$7.19
🇺🇸 Los Angeles (non-stop)	S$7.19	S$7.19
🇺🇸 San Francisco	S$7.19	S$7.19
🇺🇸 Seattle	S$7.19	S$7.19
🇺🇸 Newark	S$7.19	$ –

There’s not a lot to say here, because the taxes for award tickets on non-stop flights from the USA are all the same at US$5.60 (S$7.19).

The only time a difference will arise is if you’re taking the one-stop flights from LAX (transit NRT) and JFK (transit FRA).

Using the ITA Matrix to check taxes

If you want to check the most up-to-date taxes for your flight, you can do so via the ITA Matrix. This flight search engine shows a detailed breakdown of the taxes on a ticket, and which country they’re attributable to.

Do note that you may see “carrier-imposed surcharge” (YR) on certain Singapore Airlines flights. This is not imposed on award redemptions, so you can safely ignore it.

Also, the taxes shown on the ITA Matrix will not be accurate for award tickets in the following countries. 

To see the actual taxes payable for these destinations, you’ll need to make a dummy booking on the Singapore Airlines website.

What about flying out of Singapore?

The standard taxes on a one-way award flight departing from Singapore are currently set at S$65.20. This will increase over the next few years to S$79.20 by April 2030, as part of plans to hike airline and passenger fees to finance a S$3 billion airport investment.

As mentioned earlier, there will also be the SAF levy to contend with for departures from October 2026, which will add an additional S$1 to S$41.60 to the figures above.

However, some countries also impose a tax on arriving passengers (because nothing says “welcome” like an arrival tax!). I’ve compiled these below for your reference.

• Australia
  • Adelaide: S$29.70
  • Brisbane: S$36.90
  • Cairns: S$28.70
  • Darwin: S$38.70
  • Melbourne: S$29.10
  • Perth: S$22.70
  • Sydney: S$34.10
• Myanmar: S$4.20
• New Zealand
  • Christchurch: S$38.70
  • Auckland: S$46.70
• Thailand: S$2.20
• United Arab Emirates: S$1.80
• United States: S$23.50

Conclusion

While award tickets save you from having to pay the airfare, you’re still on the hook for taxes and surcharges. Depending on where you’re flying from, these can either be a mild inconvenience, or reason enough to rejig your travel plans. Since most taxes are charged to departing passengers, the general rule should be that you fly into expensive airports, and out from cheaper ones.

Unfortunately, Singapore is fast becoming one of the more expensive airports to fly out from, not just within Southeast Asia, but within Asia Pacific in general. That will only get worse with the new SAF levy, especially for those travelling in premium cabins on long-haul flights.