Digital PR

Heathrow Airport likely most stressful airport in Europe

11/04/2022

From sentiment scores and the number of delays to luggage, security and even WiFi ratings – here are which European airports are causing passengers the most stress.

With many European airports coming under fire over recent months for increased delays due to staffing shortages, The Digital PR hub at Legacy Communications has analysed Europe’s busiest airports to find out which are most likely to stress you out this Easter.

Legacy combed through over 10,000 passenger reviews, 2,500 tweets, and hours of flight data to gauge which airports are likely to cause the biggest bump in blood pressure amid recent scenes at airports throughout Europe with London’s Heathrow Airport landing in the top spot.

Also in the top three was Dublin Airport which has come under fire recently for delays due to staff shortages and Manchester airport which just saw its managing director step down over similar issues.

To get an overall stress score Legacy analysed the annual number of passengers, rate of delays, social media sentiment and passenger reviews to figure out which of Europe’s airports are the most stress-inducing.

Another of London’s airports, Gatwick, also ranked in seventh place of the overall most stressful airport list, with London’s Stansted also breaking the top fifteen at thirteenth place.

Meanwhile, the only one of London’s airports to crack the top fifteen in passenger satisfaction reviews for WiFi, check-in, security and more was Heathrow with a score of 78%.

Heathrow also ranked number one in negative sentiment social media analysis with a score of -263. Meanwhile, Gatwick landed itself in third place for overall flight delays with a score of 96.17.

 

Overall Most Stressful Airports Top 25:

Rank Airport City Country Tensi Score Delay Rate Annual Passengers Total Stress Score
1 Heathrow Airport London United Kingdom -263 95.43 78,014,598 145.4766667
2 Dublin Airport Dublin Ireland -221 94.83 29,582,321 114.9433333
3 Manchester Airport Manchester United Kingdom -217 96.88 27,901,708 113.6266667
4 Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport Madrid Spain -170 93.47 53,386,075 105.49
5 Frankfurt am Main International Airport Frankfurt Germany -156 92.85 64,500,386 104.2833333
6 Charles de Gaulle International Airport Paris France -141 96.51 69,471,442 102.17
7 Gatwick Airport London United Kingdom -165 96.17 45,561,694 102.0566667
8 Amsterdam Airport Schiphol Amsterdam Netherlands -145 91.38 68,515,425 101.46
9 Munich Airport Munich Germany -155 88.91 44,577,241 95.97
10 Istanbul Atatürk Airport Istanbul Turkey -128 93.75 63,859,785 94.91666667
11 Barcelona–El Prat Airport Barcelona Spain -125 92.18 47,262,826 88.06
12 Lisbon Portela Airport Lisbon Portugal -138 95.91 26,669,755 86.63666667
13 London Stansted Airport London United Kingdom -142 92.51 25,904,573 86.50333333
14 Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport Rome Italy -106 87.95 40,968,756 77.98333333
15 Vienna International Airport Vienna Austria -110 95.12 24,392,805 76.37333333
16 Palma De Mallorca Airport Palma de Mallorca Spain -125 77.03 27,970,655 76.34333333
17 Düsseldorf International Airport Duesseldorf Germany -115 85.64 24,640,564 74.88
18 Oslo Airport, Gardermoen Oslo Norway -111 85.81 27,482,315 74.60333333
19 Brussels Airport Brussels Belgium -113 86.78 24,783,911 74.59333333
20 Zürich Airport Zurich Switzerland -105 87.12 29,396,094 73.70666667
21 Copenhagen Airport Copenhagen Denmark -102 89.86 29,177,833 73.62
22 Stockholm Arlanda Airport Stockholm Sweden -105 85.61 26,642,034 72.20333333
23 Milan–Malpensa Airport Milano Italy -111 82.02 22,169,167 71.67333333
24 Athens International Airport Athens Greece -110 74.55 21,737,787 68.51666667
25 Antalya Airport Antalya Turkey -121 54.04 25,931,659 66.68

Sentiment Analysis Stress Score Top Ten:

Rank Airport Sentiment Score
1 Heathrow Airport -263
2 Dublin Airport -221
3 Manchester Airport -217
4 Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport -170
5 Gatwick Airport -165
6 Frankfurt am Main International Airport -156
7 Munich Airport -155
8 Amsterdam Airport Schiphol -145
9 London Stansted Airport -142
10 Charles de Gaulle International Airport -141

  Most Delayed Airports Top Ten:

Rank Airport State Country Delay rate %
1 Manchester Airport Manchester United Kingdom 96.88
2 Charles de Gaulle International Airport Paris France 96.51
3 Gatwick Airport London United Kingdom 96.17
4 Lisbon Portela Airport Lisbon Portugal 95.91
5 Heathrow Airport London United Kingdom 95.43
6 Vienna International Airport Vienna Austria 95.12
7 Dublin Airport Dublin Ireland 94.83
8 Istanbul Atatürk Airport Istanbul Turkey 93.75
9 Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport Madrid Spain 93.47
10 Frankfurt am Main International Airport Frankfurt Germany 92.85

Passenger Satisfaction Reviews Top 25:

Rank Airports Getting to Airport Check-in Terminal facilities Security Check WiFi Food and retail services Lounge Immigration/customs Baggage claim Total score
1 Istanbul Atatürk Airport 84% 88% 89% 87% 71% 85% 87% 86% 89% 85%
2 Zürich Airport 89% 87% 86% 75% 86% 80% 76% 83% 80% 82%
3 Amsterdam Airport Schiphol 88% 86% 84% 86% 81% 82% 80% 76% 75% 82%
4 Vienna International Airport 88% 81% 86% 85% 85% 76% 72% 81% 79% 81%
5 Munich Airport 79% 84% 83% 86% 78% 80% 79% 74% 76% 80%
6 Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport 85% 83% 82% 81% 71% 76% 78% 74% 75% 78%
7 Heathrow Airport 82% 83% 82% 80% 74% 78% 74% 75% 75% 78%
8 Athens International Airport 80% 82% 78% 74% 83% 75% 70% 75% 76% 77%
9 Frankfurt am Main International Airport 83% 83% 80% 76% 75% 76% 72% 75% 71% 77%
10 Copenhagen Airport 85% 81% 83% 75% 80% 76% 67% 74% 67% 76%
11 Palma De Mallorca Airport 82% 81% 79% 70% 83% 76% 66% 75% 76% 76%
12 Barcelona–El Prat Airport 84% 81% 80% 67% 80% 75% 68% 74% 73% 76%
13 Dublin Airport 81% 81% 77% 78% 77% 74% 64% 76% 72% 76%
14 Oslo Airport, Gardermoen 85% 83% 80% 78% 73% 69% 73% 65% 73% 75%
15 Lisbon Portela Airport 85% 79% 78% 75% 68% 73% 75% 67% 72% 75%
16 Gatwick Airport 80% 81% 77% 81% 65% 74% 64% 75% 72% 74%
17 Brussels Airport 80% 82% 81% 78% 69% 71% 72% 65% 67% 74%
18 Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport 77% 77% 78% 80% 71% 74% 66% 70% 67% 73%
19 Düsseldorf International Airport 83% 82% 76% 78% 64% 73% 71% 68% 64% 73%
20 Stockholm Arlanda Airport 79% 78% 76% 72% 69% 68% 71% 61% 67% 71%
21 Charles de Gaulle International Airport 74% 77% 73% 75% 70% 68% 65% 70% 68% 71%
22 Antalya Airport 81% 76% 77% 74% 48% 73% 68% 74% 63% 70%
23 Milan–Malpensa Airport 75% 70% 76% 62% 75% 68% 59% 68% 66% 69%
24 Manchester Airport 78% 76% 67% 69% 62% 67% 67% 66% 62% 68%
25 London Stansted Airport 73% 73% 70% 70% 58% 69% 69% 66% 66% 68%

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