Had a bad experience at Newark Liberty Airport last year? You’re not alone, according to recent rankings. The New Jersey hub ranked as the worst US airport in the 2019 annual ratings from AirHelp, an organization that specializes in air traveler rights and seeks compensation in cases of delays or cancellations. US airports in general didn’t fare particularly well, with the highest-rated Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport taking 34th place of 132 around the world. Newark held the lowest US spot, at 116. A major reason is weather-related delays, says Henrik Zillmer, AirHelp’s chief executive officer; they are a huge problem for American airports, compared with European ones. “If you have the slightest amount of snow at JFK, the airport will close," Zillmer, says, referring to the New York hub that ranked 86th. Beyond that, quality of service in the US has room for improvement, with long security lines a frequent problem. The airports are rated based on three factors: on-time performance, service quality, and food and shopping options. The first accounts for 60% of the score and the other criteria each make up 20%. AirHelp’s data comes from multiple commercial vendors, along with its own database, plus 40,000 passenger surveys collected in 40 countries during 2018. Topping AirHelp’s rankings are Doha’s Hamad International Airport, Tokyo Haneda International Airport, and Athens International Airport, which have taken the top spots since the ratings began in 2015. It’s worth considering the overall picture of each airport in looking at the list. For instance, high ratings for Athens puzzled the AirHelp team at first, says Zillmer, until you consider that its sunny weather results in fewer delays, and vacationers are more likely to leave positive reviews. Congestion continues to be the biggest problem facing airports: The flight industry is experiencing a rapid increase in global tourism. The Worldwide Tourism Organization estimates that worldwide international tourist arrivals increased 6%, to 1.4 billion in 2018. “Some airports are expanding quickly, but it’s still a big issue for most, especially during peak hours," says Zillmer. The 10 Best Airports of 2019 1. Hamad International Airport, Qatar (DOH) 2. Tokyo International Airport, Japan (HND) 3. Athens International Airport, Greece (ATH) 4. Afonso Pena International Airport, Brazil (CWB) 5. Gdansk Lech Wałęsa Airport, Poland (GDN) 6. Sheremetyevo International Airport, Russia (SVO) 7. Changi Airport Singapore, Singapore (SIN) 8. Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, India (HYD) 9. Tenerife North Airport, Spain (TFN) 10. Viracopos/Campinas International Airport, Brazil (VCP) The 10 Worst Airports of 2019 123. London Gatwick Airport, United Kingdom (LGW) 124. Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Canada (YTZ) 125. Porto Airport, Portugal (OPO) 126. Paris Orly Airport, France (ORY) 127. Manchester Airport, United Kingdom (MAN) 128. Malta International Airport, Malta (MLA) 129. Henri Coanda International Airport, Romania (OTP) 130. Eindhoven Airport, Netherlands (EIN) 131. Kuwait International Airport, Kuwait (KWI) 132. Lisbon Portela Airport, Portugal (LIS) Among the 72 airlines for which the company has statistically significant data, AirHelp rated them by on-time performance, service quality, and claim processing, with each category weighed equally. For the second year in a row, Qatar Airways ranked as the top airline, followed by American Airlines, Aeromexico, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, and Qantas in the top five. At the bottom of the list were Ryanair, Korean Air, Kuwait Airways, and the U.K.’s EasyJet and Thomas Cook Airlines. Better weather conditions led to fewer flight disruptions in 2018 overall, Zillmer says, with on-time performance improving across the board. This may have contributed to American Airlines securing the second-place spot—a big jump, considering that the airline ranked 23rd last year. United Airlines Inc. and Delta Air Lines Inc. were also significantly higher in 2018 than in 2017, respectively ranking 16th and 17th, compared to 37th and 47th. One area Zillmer in which says many airlines need to improve is claim-processing operations, which tidily wraps into the mission of AirHelp. Instead of canceling a flight as soon as it’s clear that a plane won’t be able to fly, many force passengers to wait in the airport during long flight delays. “They’re not economically incentivized to put you on a different airline to get you to your destination," he says, hoping that rankings like this can shed light on how airlines are falling short and motivate them to step up service.Here are the best and worst airlines of the year, with on-time performance records. The 10 Best Airlines of 2019 1. Qatar Airways (84% on-time performance) 2. American Airlines (75%) 3. Aeromexico (78%) 4. SAS Scandinavian Airlines (73%) 5. Qantas (79%) 6. LATAM Airlines (77%) 7. WestJet (74% 8. Luxair (78%) 9. Austrian Airlines (71%) 10. Emirates (75%) The 10 Worst Airlines of 2019 63. Adria Airways (67%) 64. Aerolineas Argentinas (80%) 65. Transavia (62%) 66. Laudamotion (51%) 67. Norwegian (70%) 68. Ryanair (65%) 69. Korean Air (69%) 70. Kuwait Airways (42%) 71. EasyJet (67%) 72. Thomas Cook Airlines (57%) Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.<doc-sep>The Rajiv Gandhi Hyderabad international Airport has featured among the top 10 airports in the world, in the annual ratings from AirHelp, an organisation that specialises in air traveler rights, reports, Live Mint. The Hyderabad airport is ranked 8th in the list of the best airports based on three factors: on-time performance, service quality, and food and shopping options. AirHelp’s data is sourced from multiple commercial vendors, apart from its own database, along with 40,000 passenger surveys collected across 40 countries, in 2018. Doha’s Hamad International Airport tops the list, followed by Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport and Athens International Airport. These airports have consistently maintained their positions since the ratings began in 2015. The London Gatwick Airport, Lisbon Portela Airport, Kuwait Airport are found among the bottom 10 of the list. Overall, 132 airports are considered for the rankings. Meanwhile, Qatar Airways, for the second time in succession, has topped the ratings for the airlines. In a rating based on punctuality, service quality and claim processing; American Airlines, Aeromexico, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, and Qantas are the others in the top five.<doc-sep>Hyderabad Airport | Photo Credit: BCCL New Delhi: Global air passengers right expert Airhelp came out with the list of world's best airports and Hyderabad Rajiv Gandhi International airport was ranked the world's eighth best airport. Airhelp ranks world's airports according to which deliver on the passenger experience. The survey takes into account on-time performance, service quality and food & shops to determine the ranking. As per the list, Qatar's Hamad International Airport was ranked the best in the world with AirHelp score of 8.39 out of 10. On-Time Performance score was 8.3, Service Quality score 8.5 and Food & shops score 8.5. Tokyo International Airport followed at number 2 spot with an overall score of 8.39 as well. Athens International Airport was ranked 3rd, Afonso Pena International Airport at 4th, Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport at 5th, Moscow Sheremetyevo international airport at 6th and Singapore Changi Airport was ranked 7th best. Spain's Tenerife North Airport followed Hyderabad airport at number 9 and the 10th best airport in the list was Brazil's Viracopos/Campinas International Airport. It may be noted that AirHelp uses the on-time performance statistics for every airport to calculate how likely it is that your flight will be on time. During the survey, AirHelp asked thousands of people from around the world to tell them about customer service, queues and cleanliness at their local airports. This helps determine service quality. For food and shops score, extensive surveys are conducted and thousands of people are asked to rate airports' eating and shopping options. Worth mentioning here is that Hyderabad Rajiv International Airport is the only Indian airport in the top of the list. RGIA is located at 20 km at the south of Hyderabad, near Shamshabad, serving the city with domestic and international flights. It opened in 2005 and is one of India's Greenfield airports as it uses eco-friendly designs.<doc-sep>
Hyderabad airport among top 10 airports in the world, says survey The survey was conducted by AirHelp, a company which deals with the rights of air passengers. news Aviation The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Hyderabad was ranked among one of the top 10 airports in the world after a survey conducted by AirHelp, a company which deals with the rights of air passengers. According to the survey, Hamad International Airport in Doha in Qatar was rated the worldâ€™s best airport with 8.39 out of 10, followed by Tokyo International Airport in Japan and Athens International Airport in Greece. The Hyderabad airport was ranked eighth, with a score of 8.27 out of 10, just below Singaporeâ€™s Changi Airport and above the Tenerife North Airport in Spain. Other airports that made it to the top ten included the Afonso Pena International Airport in Brazil and the Moscow Sheremetyevo International Airport in Russia besides the Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport in Poland. Kuwait International Airport and Lisbon Portela Airport in Portugal were given the least scores in the survey. Air Help said that it calculated the scores taking a number of factors into consideration. This included â€˜On-Time Performanceâ€™, which calculated how likely the flight would be on time, â€˜Service Qualityâ€™, which rated customer service, queues and cleanliness at the airports and â€˜Food and Shopsâ€™, which included rating an airports' eating and shopping options. Earlier this year, the GMR-led Hyderabad International Airport commissioned the Interim Domestic Arrivals Terminal (IDAT) as part of ongoing expansion works. The facility was designed to handle almost 50 percent of the domestic arrival traffic, amounting to around 30,000 passengers daily. In March 2017, the RGIA secured the first position in the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) passengers' survey in the 5-15 million passengers per annum (MPPA) category for the year 2016. The ASQ survey statistics showed that Hyderabad airport had steadily improved its score from 4.4 in 2009 to 4.9 in 2016 (measured on scale of 1 to 5). Hyderabad airport also had the honour to be the first airport in India to have been awarded by Airports Council International (ACI), headquartered at Canada's Montreal. The airport handled 6.2 million passengers in its first financial year. RGIA also received an honour for becoming the first airport in Asia Pacific in its category to become carbon neutral in 2017.