To determine the world’s best airports for 2026, we researched airports relevant to travelers from the UK and the USA, considering travel patterns and preferences. This resulted in a ranking that includes 23 of the most-used airports and excludes the less relevant ones.
It’s easy to regurgitate charts published by government bodies, but they don’t give you the whole story. We’ll explore all the factors that contribute to a positive overall travel experience.
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Our focus is on the 23 airports that are commonly used by passengers from the US and the UK. Our thinking: If British and North American passengers rarely visit these airports, why include them?
A mix of sources eliminates bias and focuses on the big picture that we’re after:
As travellers, too, we know that some things are more important than others. We weighted the categories to favour punctuality and Google reviews, which are likely to have a bigger impact on traveller satisfaction. The other criteria are important to a positive overall journey, but less so. Here’s what we used:
AirAdvisor Airport Ranking Methodology | ||
Metrics | Definition | Weighting |
| Punctuality | The higher the on-time departure rate, the better | 40% |
| Google reviews | Star ranking from Google, out of 5 | 40% |
| Transfer cost | Average transfer cost to the nearest city; the lower, the better. | 8% |
| Shopping experience | Star ranking of the airport shops from Google, out of 5 | 5% |
| Transfer distance | Average transfer distance; the shorter, the better | 4% |
| Skytrax rating | Taken as is, out of 5 | 3% |
Once we established the category weights, we applied them to each airport’s rank out of 23 to get our final list of the best airports in the world. It’s ranked from highest points (#1 overall) to lowest.
London, United Kingdom
Dublin, Ireland
Tenerife, Spain
In our 2023 review of the world’s best airports, Athens came out on top. Due to issues with punctuality in 2025, this busy Greek airport fell to the 9th spot overall. That made room for London Heathrow:
Dublin Airport has climbed our world airport rankings significantly since 2023. The airport moved up 6 spots from 8th place. The only airport to do better comparatively was Tenerife South (we’ll get there next).
Tenerife is by far the smallest airport in our top 3. In 2025, 14 million passengers transited through the airport. Given its overall ranking, it’s likely that the majority of those passengers were happy with the experience:
In our 2023 review of the world’s best airports, Athens came out on top. Due to issues with punctuality in 2025, this busy Greek airport fell to the 9th spot overall. That made room for London Heathrow, serving 84.5 million passengers in 2025 with a 79.14% on-time rate and the best shopping and dining selection of any airport on our list.
Dublin Airport has climbed our world airport rankings significantly since 2023, moving up 6 spots from 8th place, thanks to a strong punctuality score, 4-star Google reviews, and a €2.60 bus transfer to the city centre.
Tenerife is by far the smallest airport in our top 3, with 14 million passengers in 2025. Tenerife South showed the biggest ranking improvement of any airport since 2023, jumping 7 places thanks to a 75% on-time rate and 4-star Google reviews.
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Bordeaux, France
Los Angeles, USA
London, United Kingdom
It’s so important for your flight to depart on time. Delayed flights can result in missed connections and even wasting precious time at your vacation destination. To provide context, the average OTD rate of our 23 airports was 74.04%, so these 3 are significantly above average.
Delayed flights are the most common at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. The OTD rate here is only 61.07%, so nearly 40% of flights don’t leave on time.
Athens, Greece
Rome, Italy
Orlando, United States
Allotted the same weighting as punctuality, Google reviews are the perfect indication of the complete passenger experience at an airport from people who’ve actually been there. The group’s average is 3.81 out of 5, so these airports are a cut above according to passengers.
Athens tops the list with an average of 4.3 from 53,861 reviews. Rome Fiumicino follows with 4.2 from 60,567 reviews, and it’s the only airport out of 23 with a 5-star Skytrax rating. Orlando takes 3rd place with 4.1 from 63,191 reviews – tied with Palma de Mallorca, which also averages 4.1 from 41,765 reviews.
Orlando, United States
Bordeaux, France
Dublin, Ireland
There’s nothing worse than losing a big portion of your travel budget to something boring like airport transfers. Here are the top options at current prices if you want to keep your transfer costs low: Orlando’s #11 bus to Downtown Orlando costs $2 (about €1.85), the Bordeaux Merignac tram into the city costs €1.90, and the standard bus fare from Dublin Airport to the centre is €2.60.
Compare this to some of the priciest options, and you’ll see that the costs can quickly add up, especially if you’re travelling in a larger group:
Faro, Portugal
Nice, France
Venice, Italy
Portugal’s Faro Airport is the closest airport to the city centre of any that we evaluated – it’s only 6.5 km (4 miles) to the Faro Marina from the airport. From Nice Côte d’Azur to the city centre, it’s less than 8 km (5 miles), so you can enjoy your Mediterranean vacation almost instantly. Venice Marco Polo rounds out the top 3 – the total distance from the airport to the Venice Mestre Train Station on the edge of the tourist centre is 10 km (6.2 miles).
London, United Kingdom
Rome, Italy
Frankfurt, Germany
Airport shopping is a fun pastime for some people and a means to an end for others. If you like shopping (or dining), this category will definitely be of interest. And even if you don’t, it’s a good indicator of the service you’ll get if you need to pick up something you forgot to pack.
London Heathrow offers over 60 shopping options, including Louis Vuitton, WH Smith, and Tiffany, plus more than 30 dining options. The duty-free shopping at Rome Fiumicino’s Terminal 3 is highly rated, with everything from Fendi and Prada to pharmacies and souvenir shops, and dining highlights like Eataly and Farinella. At Frankfurt Airport, terminals 1 and 3 offer a fabulous selection of German and international shops and restaurants, from Hermès and Burberry to Burger King and Victoria’s Secret.
Bordeaux, France
Los Angeles, USA
London, United Kingdom
It’s so important for your flight to depart on time. The average OTD rate of our 23 airports was 74.04%, so these 3 are significantly above average. Delayed flights are most common at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, with an OTD rate of only 61.07%.
Athens, Greece
Rome, Italy
Orlando, United States
The group’s average is 3.81 out of 5. Orlando’s 3rd place is tied with Palma de Mallorca, which also averages 4.1 from 41,765 reviews.
Orlando, United States
Bordeaux, France
Dublin, Ireland
Compare this to the priciest options: London Gatwick’s Thameslink train from £14.40 (€16.67), LAX’s FlyAway bus for US$12.75 (€11.80), and Paris Charles de Gaulle’s RER-B train at €11.80.
Faro, Portugal
Nice, France
Venice, Italy
London, United Kingdom
Rome, Italy
Frankfurt, Germany
| Rank | Airport | Total Weighted Score | Punctuality Points | Google Reviews Points | Transfer Cost Points | Shopping Points | Distance to City Points | Skytrax Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | London Heathrow | 16.94 | 21 | 15 | 12 | 22 | 9 | 4 |
| 2 | Dublin Airport | 16.74 | 20 | 15 | 21 | 6 | 16 | 4 |
| 3 | Tenerife South (Tenerife Sur) | 14.81 | 18 | 15 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 3 |
| 4 | Palma de Mallorca | 14.63 | 10 | 20 | 20 | 6 | 16 | 3 |
| 5 | Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) | 13.79 | 22 | 10 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 3 |
| 6 | Rome Fiumicino (Leonardo da Vinci International Airport) | 13.49 | 6 | 22 | 11 | 22 | 4 | 5 |
| 7 | Amsterdam Schiphol | 12.72 | 14 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 20 | 4 |
| 8 | Orlando International Airport | 12.27 | 2 | 20 | 23 | 18 | 16 | 3 |
| 9 | Athens Eleftherios Venizelos Airport | 12.26 | 5 | 23 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 10 | Bordeaux Merignac | 12.15 | 23 | 1 | 22 | 2 | 15 | 3 |
| 11 | Venice Marco Polo* | 12.12 | 18 | 7 | 8 | 11 | 21 | 3 |
| 11 | Barcelona El Prat* | 12.12 | 9 | 15 | 14 | 16 | 12 | 4 |
| 12 | Madrid Barajas | 11.54 | 7 | 15 | 19 | 14 | 10 | 4 |
| 13 | Faro (Gago Coutinho Airport) | 11.40 | 17 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 23 | 3 |
| 14 | Edinburgh Airport | 10.69 | 15 | 5 | 17 | 12 | 16 | 3 |
| 15 | London Gatwick | 10.35 | 13 | 10 | 1 | 18 | 2 | 3 |
| 16 | JFK | 9.65 | 11 | 10 | 4 | 12 | 6 | 3 |
| 17 | London Stansted | 8.98 | 16 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 3 |
| 18 | Frankfurt Airport | 8.73 | 8 | 7 | 13 | 21 | 13 | 4 |
| 19 | Berlin Brandenburg | 8.28 | 12 | 2 | 19 | 16 | 6 | 4 |
| 20 | Nice Côte d’Azur Airport | 6.96 | 3 | 10 | 8 | 3 | 22 | 3 |
| 21 | Manchester | 4.58 | 4 | 2 | 16 | 5 | 14 | 3 |
| 22 | Paris Charles De Gaulle | 4.18 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 14 | 8 | 4 |
*Barcelona El-Prat and Venice Marco Polo have the same total weighted score (12.12) and are therefore tied for 11th place.
We’ve now answered the question of which is the best airport in the world. It’s London Heathrow for 2026. That’s especially good to know because London has 3 major airports to choose from. With Stansted ranked 17th and Gatwick ranked 15th, you’re almost guaranteed to have a better experience at Heathrow.
Use these rankings to allocate time and funds to transfers, know the chances of your flight arriving on time, and what to expect from the shopping and other passengers’ experiences.
And if you need to use one of the lower-ranked airports, at least you’ll know what to expect.
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