NYC's Airports Fare Badly On World's Best List

NEW YORK – NYC's airports aren't the worst in the world, but they're not flying high above the bottom spot.

AirHelp ranked 132 airports worldwide, looking at criteria such as how often flights arrive on time, quality of service and whether there are decent spots to eat and shop.

JFK came in at 86th place. Newark ranked 116th and LaGuardia didn't feature on the list.

Here’s a breakdown of the score:

JFK:

Overall score: 7.31/10
On-time performance: 7.2/10
Service quality: 7.2/10
Food and shops: 7.8/10

Newark:

Overall score: 6.83/10
On-time performance: 6.7/10
Service quality: 7.1/10
Food and shops: 7.1/10

With an overall score of 8.39, Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, and Tokyo International Airport in Japan tied for the title of the best airport in the world. Both airports scored at least an 8.3 in every category.

No U.S. airport made the top 10. Here they are the worldwide hubs that made the grade:

1. Hamad International Airport, 8.39 (tie)
1. Tokyo International Airport, 8.39 (tie)
3. Athens International Airport, 8.38
4. Afonso Pena International Airport (Curtiba, Brazil), 8.37
5. Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport (Poland), 8.35 (tie)
5. Moscow Sheremetyevo International Airport, 8.35 (tie)
7. Singapore Changi Airport, 8.27 (tie)
7. Hyderabad Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (India), 8.27 (tie)
8. Tenerife North Airport (Spain), 8.26
9. Viracopos/Campinas International Airport (Brazil), 8.25

In America, the best airport is Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson which scored a 7.89, good for a ranking of 34th best in the world. That’s in line with figures from the Bureau of Transportation statistics, which found that from Jan. 1 to Feb. 28, Atlanta has the highest share of on-time arrivals in the country.

Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport were ranked as the next-best in the United States.

Airport revenues around the globe reached more than $172 billion in 2017, according to the latest Airports Council International economics report. Angela Gittens, the organization’s world director general, said steady growth in the number of fliers since 2010 shows the industry is not only resilient, but also demonstrates how airports serve as “growth engines” and key contributors to global trade. Passenger traffic increased 7.5 percent in 2017.

The group expects the number of fliers to increase nearly 30 percent from 2017 to 2022. This means investments should be made to airports to keep up with rising demand, Gittens’ organization said.

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.