BELFAST CITY AIRPORT NAMED AMONGST THE BEST AIRPORTS IN THE UK

• New research compiled by the UK’s number one travel advice website reviewed the 20 largest airports from across the UK
• Glasgow Airport is named best airport, with London Heathrow coming in second place and George Best Belfast City Airport coming in third place
• London Stansted is ranked as the worst, followed by London Southend, London Luton, Aberdeen and Belfast International Airport
• The annual report reveals Best and Worst UK airports based on amenities, commute and on-time flights

The Points Guy UK (TPG UK) has announced today that George Best Belfast City Airport is Northern Ireland’s best airport and the third best airport across the whole of the UK.

TPG UK research in its inaugural annual report named Glasgow as the best airport in the UK, followed by London Heathrow and George Best Belfast City Airport. London Stansted Airport was rated the worst, with London Southend, London Luton, Aberdeen and Belfast International also ranking poorly.

TPG UK undertook an extensive review of the largest 20 airports across the UK and gave each a score out of 100. This rating was made up of the following three criteria; amenities, commute and on-time flights, with each criterion given an equal weighting.

Nicky Kelvin, Director of Content at The Points Guy UK said:

“The experience of how you begin and end your journey can make or break a trip. The airport experience is the first part of your journey and can either ensure you’re off on the right foot or it can be a thing of nightmares.

“Every airport has its quirks and nuances, so we took it upon ourselves to experience it all and unpack the data to figure out the best and worst airports that the United Kingdom has to offer.”

Katy Best, Commercial Director at George Best Belfast City Airport said:

“We are delighted to be named the best airport in Northern Ireland and ranked within the top three airports in the UK overall.

“At Belfast City Airport, we continually strive to deliver an airport experience that exceeds our customers’ expectations which means we place particular focus on punctuality, convenience and choice for all passengers who travel with us.

“These latest results from The Points Guy UK report solidifies Belfast City Airport’s position as the most convenient gateway to exploring Northern Ireland.”

Nicky Kelvin continued:

“With a solid score across both commute and on-time categories, Glasgow Airport comes out as our champion. Heathrow, taking silver, was head and shoulders above the rest when it came to amenities, with the plethora of lounges, spas and restaurants – but this wasn’t enough to carry their particularly low commute score.”

TPG UK says a special mention must go to George Best Belfast City Airport, which came out on top in two categories – commute and on-time flight performance.

The top five airports in the UK according to TPG UK’s results are:

1. Glasgow Airport
2. London Heathrow Airport
3. George Best Belfast City Airport
4. Newcastle Airport
5. Edinburgh Airport

Ranking last – with a bottom three result for time and last place for commute – Nicky Kelvin reveals, “the wooden spoon goes to one of the “London” airports, Stansted.”

By branding themselves as a London airport, they were given the same city centre commute point of Trafalgar Square that was also attributed to Heathrow and London City; and so, Stansted, along with the two other “London” airports, Luton and Southend, were all hit with weak commute scores and all three found themselves in the bottom 5 for commutes.

The worst five airports in the UK according to TPG UK’s results are:

1. London Stansted Airport
2. London Southend Airport
3. Aberdeen Airport
4. London Luton Airport
5. Belfast International Airport

The Points Guy UK Rating System:

This report compiled countless hours of research and utilised data from the Civil Aviation Authority, as well as data gathered directly from the airports, local public transport organisations and taxi firms, rideshare apps and ExpertFlyer. An average was then reached per section to produce the scores and TPG UK’s final rankings revealed the best and worst airports in the UK.

Amenities

This section includes the ratio of restaurants to passengers, the ratio of lounges to passengers, the ratio of spas to passengers, the ratio of kid’s areas to passengers and the ratio of jet bridges to flight movements.

Commute

This section includes the following to the city centre – drive time, public transport time, rideshare and public transport cost, plus parking costs.

On-time flights

This section includes minimum connection time between flights, delays (% of flights 0-15 minutes delayed and an average overall delay on flights), the presence of E-Gates at passport control and cancellations.