AirHelp, an organization that specializes in air traveler rights and seeks compensation in cases of delays or cancellations, has just released their 2019 global rankings for airports.
The airports are rated based on 3 factors:
- On-time performance
- Service quality
- Food and shopping options.
The first accounts for 60% of the score and the other criteria each make up 20%. AirHelp's data comes from multiple commercial vendors, along with its own database, plus 40,000 passenger surveys collected in 40 countries during 2018.
Topping AirHelp's rankings are Doha's Hamad International Airport, Tokyo Haneda International Airport, and Athens International Airport, which have taken the top spots since the ratings began in 2015.
It's worth considering the overall picture of each airport in looking at the list. For instance, high ratings for Athens puzzled the AirHelp team at first, until you consider that its sunny weather results in fewer delays, and vacationers are more likely to leave positive reviews.
Congestion continues to be the biggest problem facing airports: The flight industry is experiencing a rapid increase in global tourism. The Worldwide Tourism Organization estimates that worldwide international tourist arrivals increased 6%, to 1.4 billion in 2018.
The 10 Best Airports of 2019
--1. Hamad International Airport, Qatar (DOH)
--2. Tokyo International Airport, Japan (HND)
--3. Athens International Airport, Greece (ATH)
--4. Afonso Pena International Airport, Brazil (CWB)
--5. Gdansk Lech Wałęsa Airport, Poland (GDN)
--6. Sheremetyevo International Airport, Russia (SVO)
--7. Changi Airport Singapore, Singapore (SIN)
--8. Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, India (HYD)
--9. Tenerife North Airport, Spain (TFN)
--10. Viracopos/Campinas International Airport, Brazil (VCP)
The 10 Worst Airports of 2019
--123. London Gatwick Airport, United Kingdom (LGW)
--124. Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Canada (YTZ)
--125. Porto Airport, Portugal (OPO)
--126. Paris Orly Airport, France (ORY)
--127. Manchester Airport, United Kingdom (MAN)
--128. Malta International Airport, Malta (MLA)
--129. Henri Coanda International Airport, Romania (OTP)
--130. Eindhoven Airport, Netherlands (EIN)
--131. Kuwait International Airport, Kuwait (KWI)
--132. Lisbon Portela Airport, Portugal (LIS)
Among the 72 airlines for which the company has statistically significant data, AirHelp rated them by on-time performance, service quality, and claim processing, with each category weighed equally.
For the second year in a row, Qatar Airways ranked as the top airline, followed by American Airlines, Aeromexico, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, and Qantas in the top five. At the bottom of the list were Ryanair, Korean Air, Kuwait Airways, and the U.K.'s EasyJet and Thomas Cook Airlines.
Better weather conditions led to fewer flight disruptions in 2018 overall, with on-time performance improving across the board.