Britain’s 30 biggest airports, ranked from worst to best

 For some, an airport is no more interesting than a bus stop or a taxi rank, a functional thing as unworthy of deep consideration as the colour of the seats on a train. For others, the airport can be as glorious an element of that journey as the location at the other end of it. And a meaningful topic of consumer discussion.

The range of shops, the number of bars, the variety of restaurants, the quality and accessibility of the lounges, the availability of parking – these can all be important matters, particularly if you are the sort of traveller who likes to spend extra time in the terminal prior to take-off. And particularly if you live in an area where you have more than one airport from which to choose.

In this data-driven study, Telegraph Travel has taken the 30 busiest British airports and assigned each a score based on almost 40 metrics (see “methodology” and “the ranking in full”, below, for all the details). This is our detailed rundown of the top 10.

10. Jersey

Total points: 799

Jersey is the second smallest airport in this top 10 when it comes to passenger numbers; the 1.5 million people who entered its terminal in 2024 amount to fewer visitors than Heathrow (84 million passengers in 2024) sees in one week. This smallness is also visible on a departures board which features only six countries and 24 destinations (worth just 15 points in our study) – emphasising the idea that Jersey is a place you fly to for a holiday, rather than from. But the airport’s size also works to its credit.

According to the CAA, 71 per cent of its flights were on time last year (a better performance than many bigger rivals; 51 points). It can also claim the joint-highest average Google review score (4.2; 55 points) of all the airports in this poll – and is one of only seven British airports (the others are London City, Isle of Man, Newquay, Inverness, Guernsey and Sumburgh) not to demand a contentious drop-off fee (50 points).

Fascinating fact

One of the airline’s hangars, now disused, was built by and for the Luftwaffe, during the German occupation of the Channel Islands (July 1940-May 1945).

9. Aberdeen

Total points: 816

The airport for the “Granite City” also falls into the “small” category. Aberdeen greeted 2.3 million passengers in 2024 (the third lowest total in this top 10), and offers departures to just 26 destinations in nine countries (17.5 points) – the furthest-flung being Turkey (Dalaman). But as with Jersey, a lack of size can mean fewer complications.

An impressive 75 per cent of Aberdeen’s flights were on time in 2024 (66 points), the fifth best statistic overall – even if its ratio of cancelled flights in the same period (1,646 in total, at a rate of 2.7 per cent) was less laudable. It also loses ground in lacking a rail link to the city centre (a 15-point penalty). But if you are going to find yourself stranded at a British airport, Aberdeen would be a good “choice”; it can boast seven four-star hotels within a two-mile radius (26 points), and the cheapest room rate of any British airport within that bracket (£55; 30 points).

Even better, it is the only British airport with a beer garden, offering a rare dose of outdoor space (20 points).

Fascinating fact

Aberdeen Airport has a single terminal dedicated to aircraft operations, but four terminals for helicopter flights, mainly serving the oil fields out in the North Sea.

8. Inverness

Total points: 817

Pitched in a spectacular location on the edge of the Moray Firth, Inverness has perfected the equation for smallness and simplicity. It welcomed just short of 800,000 passengers in 2024; the only airport in this top 10 not to break the million-mark. Yes, it has year-round flights to just one other country (the Netherlands), but with a solid cancellation rate (1.8 per cent; 39 points), there is a good chance that you will actually land in Amsterdam.

Smallness also translates into amenities that bigger airports do not tend to provide. Inverness has not introduced a drop-off fee (55 points), offers unlimited free Wi-Fi (60 points), and its parking prices (from £72 for a week in July) are the fourth cheapest on the British mainland (48 points). Little wonder that it has a Google Review score of 4.1 (50 points), or that the Airports Council International (ACI) named it “Best Airport in Europe” (in the under-two-million-passengers category) in 2024 (20 points).

Fascinating fact

It has two railway stations. Sort of. A new Inverness Airport station opened in 2023. The original stop (Dalcross, half a mile away) was closed down in 1965.

7. Birmingham

Total points: 819

If you cannot fly to all corners of the world from Birmingham, you can travel a fair way around it; 130 destinations in 40 countries appear on the airport’s route list (85 points), including places in Asia (India, Qatar), Africa (Cape Verde), North America (Mexico, the USA) and the Caribbean (Dominican Republic). Birmingham’s passenger count (12.8 million people in 2024) makes it Britain’s seventh busiest airport, but it manages this situation with a cool head – with 731 flights pulled from the schedule last year, its cancellation rate (0.83 per cent; 63 points) is commendably low.

And while the average time to clear security (29 minutes, according to consumer bible Which?) is the longest in this top 10, travellers can at least keep everything in their hand luggage thanks to the CT scanners at the end of the queue (40 points). Birmingham is also an inexpensive departure point – its parking fees (£80 for a week in July; 36 points) are the cheapest of any English airport in this top 10; the best possible train fare into the city centre (£2.80) is also the lowest in the UK (40 points).

Fascinating fact

In 2012, there was talk of re-naming the airport after Ozzy Osbourne.