Advertisement

Britain's best – and worst – airports, according to you

Planes parked in front of the control tower at Newcastle Airport - Getty
Planes parked in front of the control tower at Newcastle Airport - Getty

Newcastle Airport is the UK’s best, according to a new poll of frequent fliers.

The north-east hub took top spot in a survey of more than 2,500 travellers who were asked to rank 16 of Britain’s terminals over 13 criteria. Newcastle was ranked first in three categories – cleanliness, toilets and check-in – and runner up in two – disabled access and ease of passing through immigration.

London City was handed second place overall in the poll, conducted by Cheapflights.co.uk, after excelling in WiFi, baggage wait and security. Liverpool John Lennon came third.

Britain's airport ranking – according to you

  1. Newcastle

  2. London City

  3. Liverpool

  4. Edinburgh

  5. Bristol

  6. Leeds

  7. Glasgow

  8. East Midlands

  9. Birmingham

  10. Manchester

  11. Heathrow

  12. Cardiff

  13. Gatwick

  14. Belfast

  15. Stansted

  16. Luton

“For many, Britain’s airports are seen as a necessary evil on the way to somewhere hot and sandy during the summer months, and our poll provides some clear signals on areas for improvement,” said Andrew Shelton, managing director of Cheapflights.co.uk.

“Once again our smaller, regional airports score highest – demonstrating that size isn’t everything and stressing once again that Brits just want to be able to board their flight with the minimum of hassle. That said, it's great to see London City rank so well as it makes its first appearance in the poll.”

At the other end of the scale came London Luton, which propped up the table in several categories, including check-in, toilets, family-friendly and cleanliness.

London Luton was on the foot of the table
London Luton was on the foot of the table

Of all the London airports, only City made the top 10, with Stansted ranking 15th, Gatwick 13th and Heathrow 11th.

Cheapflights.co.uk said that despite coming bottom Luton had made improvements on last year’s survey, gaining ground on security, immigration and lounge rankings.

The UK's friendliest airports

  1. Liverpool

  2. Cardiff

  3. Newcastle

The UK's cleanest airports

  1. Newcastle

  2. Cardiff

  3. Bristol

The UK airports with the best bar and restuarants

  1. Manchester

  2. Birmingham

  3. Heathrow

Liverpool, which ranked third overall, took second place in baggage wait and topped the table in terms of friendliness, an attribute close to the heart of Liverpudlians. Meanwhile, the four London airports were at the foot of the friendly scale, with Luton bottom, beneath Stansted, Heathrow then Gatwick. Second friendliest was Cardiff, according to the poll.

The results don’t tally with the 2017 Skytrax World Airport Awards, the winners of which were announced earlier this year in March. London Heathrow, at ninth, was the only UK airport to make the top 10. London City was 36th, Gatwick was 51st, Dublin came 77th and Birmingham 85th.

world's best airports
world's best airports