We\u2019ve all had a nightmare experience in an airport. The queue at security was long, your flight was delayed by several hours, and your go-to airport food kiosk was out of the one sandwich you wanted. You might expect the airport to be the worst part of any given journey, but it doesn\u2019t need to be that way.<\/p>\n
Any frequent flier will know that small airports generally offer more pleasant experiences than huge ones. Sure, they might only consist of one room, a WH Smith and, if you\u2019re really lucky, a mini caf\u00e9, but their compact size often means that things run on time. All of that stands true for the airport which the Telegraph has crowned the best in the UK.<\/p>\n
In order to determine the country\u2019s best airport, the Telegraph took a closer look at the 30 biggest terminals in the country and compared them on a few different criteria: punctuality (percentage of flights arriving and leaving on time), average delay times, average security times, and flight cancellation rates. Once they had all of those numbers, they gave each entry an overall total score, the higher the better, and voil\u00e0\u00a0\u2013 you have your ranking.<\/p>\n
So who took the crown? The small but mighty Liverpool John Lennon<\/strong>. Serving around 5 million passengers annually (for context, Heathrow sees more than 83 million each year<\/a>), travelling through this mid-size northern hub will keep you well on time. Its cancellation rates sit at an impressive 0.7 percent, and 76\u00a0percent of flights arrive or depart on schedule. This isn\u2019t the first time Liverpool John Lennon has\u00a0been recognised for excellence, as consumer site\u00a0Which? also named it the nation\u2019s best earlier this year.<\/a><\/p>\n In second place was Belfast George Best<\/strong>, which is about half of the size of Liverpool John Lennon but nearly matches it in efficiency. It actually beat the winner in some categories: over 78\u00a0percent of planes take off or land on time here. It narrowly missed out on the top spot because of its limited destinations, only flying to 22 places.<\/p>\n In third was London City<\/strong>, the capital\u2019s most compact terminus. It flew into the bronze spot, losing out because of its 3.3\u00a0percent cancellation rate.<\/p>\n On the other\u00a0end\u00a0of the league table, Cardiff<\/strong> came in last place. If you\u2019re travelling on public transport, it\u2019s often actually faster to get into Cardiff city centre from Bristol airport than Cardiff itself, so it\u2019s incredibly inconvenient to even get to. Then, once you do arrive, you\u2019re more likely to encounter delays and cancellations.\u00a0That said, Bristol didn\u2019t do too well in the study either. The southwestern hub placed 27th out of 30.\u00a0<\/p>\n Every big airport in the UK, ranked from best to worst<\/p>\n Here are Britain\u2019s top 30 biggest airports, ranked from best to worst according to the\u00a0Telegraph.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\n<\/ol>\n You can find the Telegraph\u2019s full rating of all 30 of our biggest airports in full detail\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Eyes on the skies<\/p>\n Wondering what else is going on in the world of British aviation? Low-cost airline Wizz Air is launching five new routes between the UK and Spain<\/a>, and\u00a0this is\u00a0why British Airways might be scrapping the backseat screens<\/a>. And that\u2019s not the only news: several\u00a0major British airports have officially scrapped the 100ml liquids rule<\/a>. In fact,\u00a010 UK airports have changed security rules around liquids in hang luggage \u2013here\u2019s everything you need to know<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Three regional UK airports are getting new flights and holiday routes<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Could Concorde soon make a comeback in the UK?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n
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