Going through the airport before starting a trip can be quite the ordeal. If travelling for business or pleasure, never knowing exactly how early is too early to arrive at the airport then having to spend hours waiting for your flight to actually start boarding is a never-ending hassle.
Some airports however have just the right combination of characteristics to make this whole experience less stressful. Holiday car rental company Stress Free Car Rental has ranked up Europe’s airports based on how easy they make the travel experience for passengers, considering 5 simple criteria.
The first thing taken into account was the yearly number of passengers passing through the airport, as the company found that airports receiving higher numbers of travellers tend to be more stressful. Then, if the airport offers a wider variety of restaurants, then passengers have more options to sit down and relax before boarding their flight.
Distance to the city centre also plays a role in how stressful an airport is considered, as the closer it is, the cheaper the taxis or broader the public transport alternatives. For those getting to the airport by car, the weekly parking costs were also taken into account. Lastly, the airport’s Flight Radar quality ranking, based on passenger reviews, was added to the conditions.
The airports were scored from 1 to 10 in each category then the points were added up for a maximum score of 50, although none of the entries in the ranking came close to a perfect rating.
1. Billund Airport, Denmark – 39 points
Out of the top 10 least stressful airports in Europe, Denmark’s Billund Airport is the second closest to the city centre, only 5.9 km away. Its high Flight Radar rating of 80% and relatively low yearly passenger traffic of 3,712,400 also contributed to the high score. However, the airport lost some points for only having 5 restaurants and charging €62.41 for weekly parking, about €10 above the average of the top 10.
2. Luxembourg Airport, Luxembourg – 34 points
Yearly number of passengers: 4,114,291
Number of restaurants: 9
Distance to city centre: 7.6 km
Weekly parking fees: €91.21
Flight Radar rating: 83%
3. Vilnius International Airport, Lithuania – 33 points
Yearly number of passengers: 3,915,960
Number of restaurants: 10
Distance to city centre: 6.4 km
Weekly parking fees: €45.5
Flight Radar rating: 80%
4. Menorca Airport, Spain – 30 points
Yearly number of passengers: 3,900,935
Number of restaurants: 5
Distance to city centre: 6.8 km
Weekly parking fees: €36
Flight Radar rating: 81%
5. Hannover Airport, Germany – 27 points
Yearly number of passengers: 3,955,425
Number of restaurants: 6
Distance to city centre: 13.3 km
Weekly parking fees: €44
Flight Radar rating: 76%
6. Newcastle Airport, UK – 25 points
Yearly number of passengers: 4,127,000
Number of restaurants: 9
Distance to city centre: 10.3 km
Weekly parking fees: €102.82
Flight Radar rating: 80%
7. Corfu International Airport, Greece – 23 points
Yearly number of passengers: 3,749,106
Number of restaurants: 12
Distance to city centre: 3.3 km
Weekly parking fees: €0
Flight Radar rating: 68%
8. Trondheim Airport, Norway – 22 points
Yearly number of passengers: 3,803,933
Number of restaurants:
Distance to city centre: 32.5 km
Weekly parking fees: €53.97
Flight Radar rating: 78%
9. Turin Airport, Italy – 20 points
Yearly number of passengers: 4,193,881
Number of restaurants: 13
Distance to city centre: 18.8 km
Weekly parking fees: €40
Flight Radar rating: 74%
10. Cagliari Elmas Airport, Italy – 18 points
Yearly number of passengers: 4,396,594
Number of restaurants: 11
Distance to city centre: 10.4 km
Weekly parking fees: €63
Flight Radar rating: 71%
