2019 is expected to set a new record for the number of scheduled air passengers. It’s estimated almost 4.6bn will fly to their travel destinations, meaning the quality of an airport matters more than ever before.
With these statistics in mind, luggage storage network, Stasher, has standardised the latest data available for key categories, including fewest delays, shortest distance to city centre, cost of airport parking and quality of restaurants – to rank the world’s biggest airports from best to worst.
Of the 106 airports analysed, Heathrow London (6.46) is ranked as the second, best airport in the world.
This may not seem surprising, as Heathrow is also currently ranked as the seventh busiest airport globally, and there has been a lot of recent financial investment in its facilities. It also recently published a masterplan for a third runway and new terminal facilities, however, the London Assembly is amongst many others to publicly oppose the expansion.
Efforts are clearly paying off as Heathrow Terminal 5 was awarded the World’s Best Airport Terminal title this year and in this study it receives top scores for number of lounges (10), quality of restaurants & food (8.64) and airport hotel quality (7.36).
| # | Top 10 airports around the world | Country | Score | # | Bottom 10 airports around the world | Country | Score |
| 1 | Sheremetyevo International Airport | Russia | 6.50 | 106 | Tenerife South Airport | Spain | 3.53 |
| 2 | Heathrow Airport | England | 6.46 | 105 | London Stansted Airport | England | 3.56 |
| 3 | Piarco International Airport | Trinidad & Tobago | 6.45 | 104 | Berlin Tegel Airport | Germany | 3.92 |
| 4 | Suvarnabhumi Airport | Thailand | 6.41 | 103 | Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport | China | 4.22 |
| 5 | Copenhagen Airport | Denmark | 6.34 | 102 | John F. Kennedy International Airport | USA | 4.36 |
| 6 | José María Córdova International Airport | Colombia | 6.33 | 101 | Charles de Gaulle Airport | France | 4.49 |
| 7 | Adelaide Airport | Australia | 6.31 | 100 | Oslo Airport, Gardermoen | Norway | 4.56 |
| 8 | Calgary International Airport | Canada | 6.29 | 99 | Cairo International Airport | Egypt | 4.62 |
| 9 | El Dorado International Airport | Colombia | 6.28 | 98 | Soekarno–Hatta International Airport | Indonesia | 4.64 |
| 10 | Hamad International Airport | Qatar | 6.27 | 97 | Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport | Mauritius | 4.88 |
Sheremetyevo International (6.50) in Russia beats Heathrow to the top spot. This might seem surprising; however, Sheremetyevo has top scores for key categories including fewest delays (10) and parking costs (10). It also scores highly for the number of passenger lounges (7.37) and airport hotel quality (7.06).
It is also the only airport with less than 10 percent of delayed flights over a year. Just 6 percent of flights were delayed for longer than 15 minutes. Completing the top five is Piarco International in Trinidad & Tobago (6.45) in third place, followed by Thailand’s Suvarnabhumi airport (6.41) and Denmark’s Copenhagen airport (6.34).
Half of the bottom ten lowest scoring airports are based in Europe, with Tenerife South Airport (3.53), London Stansted (3.56) and Berlin Tegel (3.92) being placed in the bottom three.
Ranked as second worst overall, London Stansted scores the lowest (0) for Google Reviews and is also impacted by severe delays (2.59). In fact, in 2018 an investigation revealed it to be the worst airport in the UK for flight delays too. Stansted blamed this on “adverse weather and air traffic control issues”.
However, it seems the airport is taking its negative reputation seriously and reports reveal it has received a multimillion-pound investment from Ryanair to help deliver significant service improvements to flight punctuality.
Tenerife South Airport is ranked as the worst airport in the world, receiving negative scores for the quality of its restaurants (0), its distance to the city centre (0.72) and high number of flight delays (4.95).
There are only two other UK airports to rank in the study, but neither produce particularly positive results. Manchester Airport is ranked in position 82, followed by Gatwick in position 89.
Commenting on the findings, Stasher’s Co-Founder and CCO Anthony Collias said, “Our new study has produced some fascinating and unexpected results. It’s surprising to see UK airports feature in both the best and worst performing lists.
“Many travellers are in ‘holiday mode’ as soon as they arrive at the airport, so hopefully Stansted’s bid to improve upon its service offerings will mean it can provide better travel experiences for its passengers in the future.”
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