Two London airports have been named in the 100 best in the world for 2026

London’s airports aren’t always thought of fondly. Often, they’re seen as hubs of stress, places that are ridden with delays and never-ending security queues. Really, though, we’ve got it pretty good. The capital city’s airports give Brits access to more destinations than anywhere else and, in a new survey of thousands of travellers, two were voted among the best in the entire world. 

Every year consultancy Skytrax carries out a huge customer satisfaction survey of 575 airports in order to compile a list of the 100 best on the planet for the World Airport Awards. It asks passengers for their feedback on dozens of elements of the airport experience, including the ease of getting there, check-in facilities, shopping/restaurant options, friendliness of staff and lost luggage services.

After Skytrax crunched all the data, the only British hubs recognised among the world’s top 100 for 2026 were London Heathrow and London Gatwick. 

Rising six places since last year, Heathrow (the most connected airport in the world right now) placed 16th on the worldwide list. In the awards’ subcategories, it ranked eighth among the best airports in Europe and fourth for best airports with more with 80 million passengers. And with more than 345 retail units, it was also crowned the greatest airport in the world for shopping. 

As for Gatwick, it came a very respectable 30th on the global list, also six places above where it ranked last year. It came in fourth in the ranking of the world’s best airports serving 40 to 50 million passengers a year. 

There were a couple of other categories in the World Airport Awards in which London airports got recognition. London City (pictured above) was named the sixth best regional airport in Europe (and fifth best for airports with less than 5m passengers). Stansted was crowned the fifth best low-cost airline terminal in the world. 

Did you see that British Airways is launching direct flights from London to the world’s best city?

Plus: The world’s longest flight will launch from London in 2027. 

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