New survey from consumer bible Which? reveals Liverpool John Lennon Airport rated joint-best UK airport by passengers. Tony McDonough reports
Amid a spring and summer of cancelled flights and chaotic terminals Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) has come joint-top in a passenger survey of UK airports.
From spring onwards both airlines and airports struggled to cope with the post-pandemic surge of people looking to fly abroad. Television news bulletins were filled with chaotic scenes of packed terminal buildings and fed-up flyers.
However, a new survey from consumer bible Which? reveals passengers travelling out of both Liverpool and Exeter Airports were mostly very happy with their experiences. In a survey of 7,000 flyers carried out in the summer, both airports secured an 83% approval rating.
In contrast, Manchester Airport’s three terminals scored much lower – 47% for terminal 2, 41% for terminal 1 and just 38% for terminal 3.
LJLA offers flights to multiple European destinations. Its two biggest carriers – easyJet and Ryanair – offer more than 50 routes between them. Wizz Air is another popular carrier and earlier this year German flag carrier Lufthansa launched a new route to Frankfurt, offering onward flights to multiple global destinations.
And, in the last couple of weeks, Icelandic airline PLAY has launched its new route out of Liverpool to Reykjavik. This service offers ‘seamless’ onward connections to US cities Washington, Boston and New York.
Summing up why Liverpool came out top, Which? said: “Passengers parked easily, had a short walk to the terminal and got through check-in and security in no time. It got the maximum five-star rating for every queue – including the wait at passport control.
“Verdict: As one passenger said ‘It’s much smaller, less manic and so much more civilised than Manchester’.”
It added: “When international travel restarted in spring 2022 many airports simply weren’t prepared. Passengers at some of the biggest found themselves stuck in long queues, or crammed into overcrowded terminals, having to pay for an overpriced snack just to find somewhere to sit down.
“Yet it wasn’t quite so bad for everybody. Our latest survey shows that there are some airports where you can expect to breeze through security and find smiling staff able to help if you have a problem.”