Travel company AirAdvisor has released its AirAdvisor Airport Ranking 2026, evaluating 23 major gateways most frequently utilized by passengers from the United Kingdom and the United States. London Heathrow Airport achieved the highest overall score of 16.94 to claim the top spot in the global study. Dublin Airport (DUB) finished in second place with a score of 16.74, while Tenerife South Airport (TFS) placed third. Heathrow secured the leading ranking despite managing the largest passenger volume among all airports included in the evaluation.
The study assessed major transatlantic hubs across Europe and North America based on operational performance and passenger experience. Ranking scores were compiled using full-year 2025 Eurocontrol operational data, more than 1.1 million Google passenger reviews, and publicly available data on airport transport costs and transfer distances. Performance was weighted across six distinct criteria: punctuality, passenger reviews, transfer costs, transfer distance, shopping experience, and Skytrax ratings. Punctuality proved to be the single most heavily weighted factor, accounting for 40% of the total score.
Across all 23 evaluated airports, the average on-time departure rate stood at 74%. While London Heathrow achieved an on-time departure rate of 79.1% to secure first place overall, France's Bordeaux Mérignac Airport recorded the highest individual punctuality rate in the study at 83.5%. Los Angeles International Airport ranked second in on-time departures at 81.7%. Conversely, Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport recorded the lowest punctuality performance among the evaluated gateways, with an on-time departure rate of 61.1%.
European gateways dominated the top tier of the study, taking eight of the top 10 positions overall. Rome Fiumicino, Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS), and Dublin all secured places within the top seven. Los Angeles International and Orlando International were the only North American airports to break into the top 10. Commenting on the findings, AirAdvisor Chief Executive Officer Anton Radchenko noted that chronically delayed airports suffer from underlying structural challenges, including airport capacity limits and ground handling bottlenecks, which persist across operating seasons.
