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World's best airport is revealed in surprising new ranking as only one USA airport makes top 20
Home>News>Travel
Published 13:54 17 Jun 2026 GMT+1

World's best airport is revealed in surprising new ranking as only one USA airport makes top 20

The number one airport in the world has been revealed

Kit Roberts

Kit Roberts

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Featured Image Credit: LUIS ACOSTA/AFP via Getty Images

Topics: World News, Travel, Plane, US News

Kit Roberts
Kit Roberts

Kit joined UNILAD in 2023 as a community journalist. They have previously worked for StokeonTrentLive, the Daily Mirror, and the Daily Star.

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A new ranking has revealed the best airport in the world, with one country in particular doing extremely well.

While there's no denying the convenience of being able to get across the literal world in less than a day, air travel can sometimes be a less than pleasant experience.

With that in mind, a good airport can be the difference between a trip that's bearable and gets you where you're going, and one that's actively horrid.

The rankings were published by AirHelp, who issued scores for airports around the world based on three factors.

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These were punctuality, facilities and comfort, and experience at the airport, with the punctuality seeing deductions based on delays and cancellations.

Each of the scores from these factors was then combined together into an overall score for each airport.

The best airport in the world (RODRIGO ARANGUA/AFP via Getty Images)
The best airport in the world (RODRIGO ARANGUA/AFP via Getty Images)

First place, so the best airport in the world according to this ranking, was Tocumen International Airport in Panama.

Although other airports in the top 10 were higher in the other two categories, its particularly high score in punctuality was enough to earn it first place.

Second place was Fortaleza Pinto Martins Airport in Brazil, while Cape Town Airport in South Africa came in third.

And only one airport from the US managed to make the top 20, with Portland Airport squeezing in in 18th place, with the top three airports in the US being Portland, Salt Lake City, and Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airpot.

Panama may have claimed the top spot, but when it comes to countries the clear winner in the top 20 overall was definitely Brazil.

While they didn't get number one, Fortaleza Pinto Martins Airport in Brazil came in second place, and Brazil was the country with the most airports in the top 20 by far, with nine out of the top 20 airports being in Brazil, nearly half.

The only other countries to get multiple airports on the top 20 were South Africa and Japan, with South Africa having Cape Town in third and Durban King Shaka Airport in seventh, and Japan having Osaka Itami Airport in twelfth, Fukuoka Airport in fifteenth, and Nagoya Chubu Airport in twentieth.

Portland was the only airport in the US in the top 20 (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
Portland was the only airport in the US in the top 20 (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

Top 20 airports in the world

  1. Panama City Tocumen, Panama
  2. Fortaleza Pinto Martins Airport, Brazil
  3. Cape Town Airport, South Africa
  4. Recife/Guararapes–Gilberto Freyre Airport, Brazil
  5. Brasília–Presidente Juscelino Kubitschek Airport, Brazil
  6. Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont Airport, Brazil
  7. Durban King Shaka Airport, South Africa
  8. Belém Val-de-Cans Airport, Brazil
  9. Bodø Airport, Norway
  10. Billund Airport, Denmark
  11. Viracopos – Campinas Airport, Brazil
  12. Osaka Itami Airport, Japan
  13. Singapore Changi Airport, Singapore
  14. Santiago Airport, Chile
  15. Fukuoka Airport, Japan
  16. Rio de Janeiro Galeão Airport, Brazil
  17. Salvador-Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães Airport, Brazil
  18. Portland Airport, US
  19. Belo Horizonte Tancredo Neves Airport, Brazil
  20. Nagoya Chubu Airport, Japan

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