World’s Most Stressful Airports by VisaGuide.World is a comprehensive ranking system assessing the stress levels encountered by passengers navigating the world’s top 30 largest airports.
The evaluation takes into consideration various factors selected by travellers as the most significant contributors for their stress levels when travelling by air, including here passenger volumes throughout the entire year, density of crowds, likelihood of flight delays, and more.
World’s Most Stressful Airports
United Kingdom’s London Gatwick Airport is the world’s most stressful for passengers to pass through with a score of 52.00. The same is the UK’s second busiest airport, and one of the two British airports that rank in this list.
Second is listed Türkiye’s Istanbul Airport with a score of 42.79, followed by the Munich Airport in Germany is listed third with 40.43 score.
The list of the top five is completed by one American and another British airport – Denver International Airport (39.60) and Heathrow Airport (37.13).
Complete List of the Most Stressful Airports in the World
Here is the detailed list of the most stressful airports ranked according to their score:
| Rank | Airport | Country | Total passengers | Airport size | Passenger density | Delays | Downtown distance | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | London Gatwick Airport | UK | 32,848,088 | 6,712,109.68 | 4.89 | 41.10% | 43 | 52.00 |
| 2nd | Istanbul Airport | Türkiye | 64,289,107 | 76,354,541.04 | 0.84 | 31.50% | 38.8 | 42.79 |
| 3rd | Munich Airport | Germany | 31,642,738 | 15,745,482.45 | 2.01 | 49.20% | 33.5 | 40.43 |
| 4th | Denver International Airport | USA | 69,286,461 | 139,892,218.01 | 0.50 | 20.90% | 37.01 | 39.60 |
| 5th | Heathrow Airport | UK | 61,614,508 | 12,122,336.46 | 5.08 | 40.50% | 28 | 37.13 |
| 6th | Los Angeles International Airport | USA | 65,924,298 | 11,913,515.79 | 5.53 | 19.02% | 29 | 36.44 |
| 7th | Fiumicino International Airport | Italy | 29,346,365 | 15,971,281.24 | 1.84 | 28.80% | 30.4 | 35.12 |
| 8th | Dallas Fort Worth International Airport | USA | 73,362,946 | 69,590,540.34 | 1.05 | 20.67% | 31 | 34.12 |
| 9th | John F. Kennedy International Airport | USA | 55,287,693 | 19,947,661.09 | 2.77 | 25.43% | 27.35 | 32.66 |
| 10th | O'Hare International Airport | USA | 68,340,619 | 30,827,439.08 | 2.22 | 18.76% | 27.35 | 31.44 |
| 11th | Charles de Gaulle Airport | France | 57,474,033 | 32,373,747.57 | 1.78 | 43.20% | 24.8 | 30.90 |
| 12th | Singapore Changi Airport | Singapore | 32,202,000 | 24,090,533.20 | 1.34 | 27.80% | 25.1 | 29.22 |
| 13th | Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport | Spain | 50,602,864 | 30,329,004.34 | 1.67 | 19.00% | 24.5 | 28.07 |
| 14th | Tokyo Haneda Airport | Japan | 50,290,705 | 15,208,639.41 | 3.31 | 9.67% | 23.1 | 27.37 |
| 15th | Amsterdam Airport Schiphol | Netherlands | 52,472,188 | 27,704,640.81 | 1.89 | 41.50% | 20.8 | 26.84 |
| 16th | Orlando International Airport | USA | 50,176,103 | 46,933,491.01 | 1.07 | 29.69% | 20.92 | 24.96 |
| 17th | Indira Gandhi International Airport | India | 59,490,074 | 20,646,229.16 | 2.88 | 39.8% | 21.9 | 24.78 |
| 18th | King Abdulaziz International Airport | Saudi Arabia | 31,648,324 | 106,095,099.92 | 0.30 | 37.60% | 20.4 | 24.46 |
| 19th | Soekarno–Hatta International Airport | Indonesia | 38,791,168 | 17,953,243.12 | 2.16 | 8.30% | 20.9 | 23.89 |
| 20th | Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport | USA | 93,699,630 | 18,972,963.08 | 4.94 | 16.39% | 15.77 | 22.35 |
| 21st | Antalya Airport | Türkiye | 31,228,377 | 12,965,401.77 | 2.41 | 24.20% | 17.4 | 22.23 |
| 22nd | Harry Reid International Airport | USA | 52,694,312 | 11,308,431.20 | 4.66 | 25.29% | 15 | 22.19 |
| 23rd | Dubai International Airport | UAE | 66,069,981 | 29,116,192.02 | 2.27 | 36.80% | 15 | 20.95 |
| 24th | Frankfurt Airport | Germany | 48,918,482 | 22,798,324.28 | 2.15 | 59.30% | 11.9 | 19.98 |
| 25th | Miami International Airport | USA | 50,684,396 | 13,052,146.77 | 3.88 | 25.46% | 12.87 | 19.30 |
| 26th | Hamad International Airport | Qatar | 35,730,482 | 21,998,710.21 | 1.62 | 39.2% | 15.5 | 17.12 |
| 27th | Josep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat Airport | Spain | 41,616,302 | 15,334,956.77 | 2.71 | 18.70% | 12.3 | 16.88 |
| 28th | Charlotte Douglas International Airport | USA | 47,758,605 | 22,452,821.27 | 2.13 | 18.59% | 12 | 15.99 |
| 29th | Tan Son Nhat International Airport | Vietnam | 34,278,320 | 8,496,942.17 | 4.03 | 36.60% | 7.7 | 15.39 |
| 30th | Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport | India | 38,332,106 | 7,481,461.27 | 5.12 | 44.3% | 7.7 | 12.82 |
Note: The unit measuring the size of the airport is square meter (m2). The unit measuring the distance from the city downtown is kilometer (km)
Methodology
To create this ranking, 1,642 air passengers who have made at least two international air trips within 2023, of 53 different nationalities, have been surveyed. The passengers were asked on the factors that stress them out the most while travelling abroad. The things that stress them out the most have turned out to be:
- A high number of passengers
- Large airports, which can often be difficult to navigate due to their area
- Crowded airports
- The frequency of flight delays
- The distance from the city downtown
Based on the concerns listed above, a unique formula has been established to create the ranking calculating the following factors:
- Total number of passengers
- Airport size in square meters
- Density passenger per square meter
- Share of annual delays
- Downtown distance in kilometres
We have then normalized data for fair comparison, assigned weights to factors based on their impact, and computed a composite “Stress Index” using a weighted formula.