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AirHelp Score 2026: How did we rank the airports?
Just as the peak summer travel rush kicks into high gear, we are rolling out this year's airport ranking. Whether you're organising a well-deserved vacation or just want to see how your local terminal stacks up against the competition, the AirHelp Score is your go-to snapshot of how the world's biggest and best-known airports stack up.
This year we analysed 279 airports from 76 countries.
Where does the data come from?
By combining our massive internal flight database with direct feedback from the passengers who actually use these terminals, we built a ranking you can trust.
The flights analyzed span from 1 May 2025 to 30 April 2026.
While our master database monitors over 4,000 airports globally, we narrowed this list down to the world's major transit hubs based on total flight traffic and popularity. While we aim to rank the most used airports, it’s worth noting that some are excluded due to a lack of data.
Three important factors contribute to airport ranking. Here’s a breakdown:
On-time performance
To support passengers dealing with flight delays and cancellations, we’ve built what we believe to be one of the world’s most dependable and accurate flight data databases.
Using this database, we’re able to track on-time departure and arrival statistics for airports worldwide. It also allows us to identify where delays and cancellations occur most frequently, helping us measure the true extent of travel disruptions.
On-time performance contributes 60% of the score.
What counts as ‘on time’?
A flight is considered on time if it arrives within 15 minutes of its scheduled arrival time. For this year’s ranking, we analyzed flights operating between 1 May 2025 and 30 April 2026.
We calculated the percentage of flights that arrived on time and translated that into a score. The higher the score, the greater the percentage of punctual flights. For instance, a score of 8.5 indicates that 85% of flights arrived on time.
What makes the AirHelp database so reliable?
Our data is collected from multiple providers and carefully processed to create a highly advanced database.
To maintain accuracy, we compare information against a range of trusted sources, including government agencies, airport records, flight-tracking providers, and historical datasets.
If sources conflict, we do not estimate or average the figures. Instead, we prioritize data based on source authority and use the information from the most reliable source available.
Delay and cancellation data
This year, we’ve also included information about the level of delays or cancellations at the airport. These don’t factor into the score itself, but they help passengers understand why the airport scored as it did.
For example if an airport scored 8.5 (85% of flights on time) passengers might see a cancellation score of 1.0, and a delay score of 0.5. That would mean that 10% of flights were canceled and 5% of flights were delayed.
A delayed flight is any flight that arrives over 15 minutes later than scheduled. This is the industry standard definition.
A canceled flight means that it didn’t operate as scheduled. For the airport score we only include flights that were canceled up to 2 weeks before departure.
Passenger experience
To understand how passengers feel about airports, we asked travelers directly. We surveyed air passengers across more than 68 countries, and collected almost 14,300 unique airport ratings.
Travelers were asked to evaluate the airports they had most recently visited based on five categories:
Airport staff
Wait times
Accessibility
Signage & information
Cleanliness
Passengers rated each factor on a scale from “very good” to “very bad.” Each response was assigned a numerical value, and the combined results produced a final score. A higher score reflects a better overall passenger experience across these service areas.
Passenger experience contributes 20% of the score.
Facilities and comfort
The facilities available at an airport play a big part in a passenger’s experience. We asked our survey respondents to rate the restaurants and retail offerings at the airports they visited, as well as the available entertainment and seating options.
Passengers evaluated each airport on a scale from “very good” to “very bad.” We converted these responses into numerical values and combined them into a final score. The higher the score, the more positively passengers rated the airport’s food and shopping experience.
Facilities and comfort contribute 20% of the score.
The final score
The final airport score combines results from each category, with the greatest emphasis placed on on-time performance, as we believe punctuality should carry more weight than service quality or shopping and dining options.
The final score is calculated using the following weighting:
On-time performance contributes 60%
Passenger experience contributes 20%
Facilities and comfort contributes 20%
Did you also know that you can claim compensation for delayed, canceled, or overbooked flights from up to 3 years ago? AirHelp is here to help you check if your flight is eligible — it’s quick, easy, and totally risk-free!
