Not just during the holiday season: These are the most stressful airports in Europe

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Many air passengers tolerate a crowded departure lounge if the trip to the airport is short, parking is cheap, and there are enough restaurants where you can relax before departure and use Wi-Fi for work or surfing.

But the results of a new study by car rental provider Stress Free Car Rental show this is not the case at most of Europe’s ten busiest airports. It analyses, evaluates and compares Europe’s most important airports based on the following characteristics: location and distance from the city centre, weekly parking fees, total number of restaurants by airport size, departure delays and WiFi download speed in departure lounges.

You need nerves in Paris…

The results shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to frequent flyers. British car rental experts described Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, which is frequented by more than 57 million passengers a year and is therefore the third most important airport in Europe, as the most stressful airport for departing passengers. The aging French hub lies more than 40 kilometers outside the city center and has few restaurants compared to its size.

…but also in London

London Heathrow, the second busiest airport in Europe, is considered the second most stressful airport. Departing holidaymakers and business people are particularly upset that Heathrow has the worst punctuality record of Europe’s ten busiest airports. Just behind Heathrow is London’s other airport, Gatwick. The main criticism here is that the furthest distance from the city center among all ten airports evaluated was 45.7 kilometers.

Enjoyable in Istanbul…

Interesting: Istanbul Airport, which is relatively newly built and is clearly the busiest airport in Europe with 64.5 million passengers last year, has received excellent marks from experts and is therefore ranked ninth in the ranking of the most stressful airports. The winner is Barcelona.

…and especially in Barcelona

Spain’s Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat airport won because it has relatively low passenger traffic for its size, has only a few departure delays, offers fast Wi-Fi to visitors, and is only 13.7 kilometers from the airport. Parking fees in Barcelona city center and airport are quite reasonable. Speaking of parking fees: There are some noticeable differences here. While you pay just 20 euros for seven days of parking at Rome’s Leonardo Da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport, parking at Frankfurt Airport costs a whopping 234 euros for seven days; That’s more than eleven times.

What about Zurich-Kloten?

By the way: Zurich-Kloten Airport has not been rated by Stress Free Car Rental. For the simple reason that it has become “only” the 20th most frequently used airport in Europe, with a passenger frequency of approximately 22.6 million in 2022. It ranks behind Palma de Mallorca (12th), Vienna (16th) and Manchester (17th) airports.

Source: Blick