The airport-aficionados over at Skytrax have recently revealed the 2026 edition of their World Airport Awards. And as a girl who loves spending time at the airport almost as much as she loves landing at the destination in which she’s heading; it’s piqued my interest, to say the least.
The annual awards have been shining a light on the best airports in the business since 1999, when Skytrax launched its first ‘airport satisfaction survey’. Evaluating the traveler experience – from start to finish – across a whole host of factors, the research is pretty darn thorough. From comfort and cleanliness to baggage delivery and boarding calls, no element of a fliers journey is left uninspected.
Customers from over 100 different nationalities were invited to put their two cents in on the matter this year, sharing their opinions on over 575 airports across the globe. Skytrax then (much like me in my bag, trying to find my passport at the boarding gate) rummaged through the research to uncover the world’s best airports.
London Heathrow earnt itself the 16th spot on the list of the overall best airports in the world. But the capital city made a rather impressive appearance in the low-cost category, with two London airports being named among the best budget-friendly terminals in the world.
Luton Airport maintained its position as the 10th best low-cost airline terminal in the world, but London Stansted managed to catapult to 5th place. The (just north of) London airport is the capital’s third biggest aviation hub, and it’s soon set to get a whole lot larger, as permission has recently been granted for Stansted to up its annual passenger numbers to 51 million.
The world’s best low-cost airline terminals in 2026:
- Kansai – Terminal 2
- Tokyo Narita – Terminal 3
- Paris Charles de Gaulle – Terminal 3
- Centrair Nagoya – Terminal 2
- London Stansted
- Berlin Brandenburg – Terminal 2
- Bangkok Don Mueang
- Eindhoven
- Kuala Lumpur – Terminal 2
- London Luton
You can read more about the 2026 World Airport Awards here.
