The United Kingdom’s second biggest airport, London Gatwick Airport, has turned out to be the most stressful in the world for passengers, a new ranking by VisaGuide.World has revealed.
The ranking, called the World’s Most Stressful Airports has been published on December 11, and it comprehensively assesses the stress levels encountered by passengers navigating the world’s top 30 largest airports, including here Gatwick by taking into account several factor.
The factors based on which the ranking was established were selected as the most stressing through a survey, part of which were 1,642 air passengers who have made at least two international air trips within 2023, of 53 different nationalities. The factors that stress passengers most are the high number of passengers, airport size, crowds, delays of flights, and distance with the nearest city, VisaGuide.World reports.
According to Dion Pllana, VisaGuide’s Global Travel Trends Analyst, the main reason why Gatwick airport ranks the fist in the list of world’s most stressful airports, is its high number of passengers compared to its size, which creates a high density of travelers, and often contributes to flight delays.
Though another three airports in this list have a higher density of travelers, Gatwick occupies the first spot due to its very high delay rate, complemented by the fact that it’s the airport located farthest from a city center.
He also notes that travelers passing through this airport are in particular stressed during the summer months, and the year-end holidays, when there’s a higher volume of travelers.
The second and third most stressful airports in the world are also located in Europe, – Türkiye’s Istanbul Airport and Germany’s Munich Airport.
Istanbul Airport is also Europe’s busiest with 64,289,107 passengers recorded in 2022, which makes it the world’s seventh busiest airport. Travelers claim they often face difficulties navigating the airport due to its enormous size.
The Munich Airport, on the other hand, recorded less than half of it in the same year, or 31,642,738 passengers. The Munich airport’s size, however, is five times smaller than that of Istanbul airport.
Denver International Airport of the United States is listed fourth, and the fifth position is occupied by another British one, the Heathrow Airport. The latter was once Europe’s busiest airport but has now been kicked to the second position with 61,614,508 passengers. The same is smaller in size even than the Munich airport.
According to the VisaGuide’s ranking of the world’s most stressful airports, the positions from six to ten are as follows:
- Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, California, United States America
- Rome–Fiumicino International Airport “Leonardo da Vinci“, Fiumicino, Rome metro, Italy, Europe
- Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas, United States
- John F. Kennedy International Airport, Queens, New York City, New York, United States
- O’Hare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois, United States