The Consumer Choice Center has just published its European Airport Index, which ranks the top 10 airports in Europe in terms of passenger friendliness.
What is the Consumer Choice Center?
Every time a ranking comes out, no matter how exciting it may be, it is important to look at where it comes from in order to assess its value, if not its objectivity.
The Consumer Choice Center, as it calls itself, is “an independent entity that aims to promote more choice and freedom for consumers.”
“The Consumer Choice Center was launched in February 2017 as part of the Students For Liberty project. We held launch events in Brussels, Belgium and Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. We currently have staff in the United States, Canada, Brazil and the European Union.”
“As an independent, nonprofit organization, the Consumer Choice Center depends on funding from private donors. We do not accept money from government institutions. As described in our Code of Ethics, we maintain strict editorial independence and do not allow our funders to influence editorial decisions.
Our support comes from businesses, individuals and foundations. We have a tiered membership model available for members who support us on an annual basis, which is equivalent to silver, gold and platinum status. These members give between $10 and $50 per year to support our work and mission.”
The list of “employees” is available here.
In short, while this in no way presumes the quality of their analyses, it does not appear that we are dealing with a lobby or that they have an interest in manipulating information. We can now get to the heart of the matter.
The 10 most friendly airports in Europe…
So without further ado, the ranking of the 10 most user-friendly airports in Europe: Brussels, Zurich, Dusseldorf, Madrid, Manchester, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Frankfurt, Munich
What methodology?
So where do these figures come from? Still according to the authors
“We looked at the top 30 airports in Europe (by passenger volume) and ranked them on passenger experience, based on a range of factors from location and transportation options to airport experience and access to the air network. [….]The overall Passenger Friendliness Index (includes the indicators listed above, but also adds direct rail connections from the airport, availability of on-call services, airline competition, on-site hotels, number of destinations, number of airlines, convenience of changing terminals).”
So far it makes sense.
Analyse
Nothing surprising in the results. Although they have selected the 30 largest European airports, we can see that the ones that rank well are “second category” airports that are not large hubs or are even end of the line airports. It’s easier to be nice when you are neither huge nor so saturated.
There are a few notable exceptions: Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Madrid, Zurich and, to a lesser extent, Munich show that it is possible to be the hub of a large airline (Lufthansa) or an “upper-medium” airline for others and still score well in terms of user-friendliness.
That said, if we agree with this ranking in most cases, some of them catch our attention like Manchester. Ok the airport is lively but we have seen better experiences. The consideration of the design and the general “look and feel” is missing in my opinion in this ranking.
To return to the case of Frankfurt, I think that the fact that Lufthansa has two hubs makes them both more liveable than Roissy or Heathrow for example
However, I see a limit to the exercise: to classify the largest airports, a terminal logic would be more appropriate. Indeed, if the experience is coherent in Frankfurt or Zurich, it is far from being the case in Roissy or Heathrow, depending on the terminal through which one passes. And the experience gap can be huge.
But let’s look at the details.
Boarding at the contact or by bus?
This is indeed a relevant criterion.
We hate bus boarding and so we validate the criterion…but not the way to measure it.
This ranking gives us the number of passengers per gateway, not the number of passengers boarding through a gateway compared to the total number of passengers.
I also believe that the figures for Istanbul are those of the former Ataturk Airport which was closed last spring and not the one at the new airport which, in my opinion, has enough gateways that boarding by bus is becoming increasingly rare…except for passengers with access to the lounges on domestic flights who are taken directly by bus from the lounge to the airplane…and then it becomes a positive point.
Which airport is closest to the city center?
Again a relevant criterion. Who wants to go to the end of the world and, worse, spend hours in traffic jams to catch a plane?
Of course we find without any surprise airports of “small big cities”. But again, while ease of access to the airport is a good criterion, I’m not sure it is measured in the best way.
Take the example of Stockholm. Arlanda is located at 40 km of the city that is to say at the end of the world (we made it once in Uber we regretted it). For information Roissy is only 26 km from the center of Paris, that’s saying something!
But the Arlanda Express, a train that runs every 15 minutes takes you to the center of Stockholm in 18 minutes!
The same is true in Madrid where the airport is very easily accessible by metro.
Perhaps the ease of access by public transport should have been taken into account, if only to weight this ranking.
How many lounges in the airports?
The ranking also takes into account the number of airport lounges available.
At TravelGuys we love airport lounges and consider them an essential part of our airport experience. But here again I have a doubt.
Yes, some lounges are accessible to everyone as long as you pay. Others are more exclusive and reserved for passengers with a certain status or traveling in business or first class. But for 95% of the passengers this means absolutely nothing because they will never see a lounge and some even ignore their existence.
What this ranking tells us is that Heathrow, Zurich, Moscow or Frankfurt are airports that see a lot of premium passengers and nothing more. Small surprise for Vienna but I think that Austrian’s membership in the Lufthansa Group allows it to catch Swiss and Lufthansa customers in connection…
And Paris? One would have expected to see Roissy pointing its nose here…and well no. The reason? It is double in my opinion.
The first is that unlike Lufthansa in Frankfurt, Air France does not multiply the number of lounges and lounge types depending to the customer. The second is that whatever people say and until we see the effect of the Brexit, Paris is not a business travel destination and generally sees fewer premium travelers (business or “tourist” status or traveling in business or first) than Frankfurt, Zurich or London.
Which airport has the most restaurants and stores?
A more relevant criterion than lounges in my opinion because it makes an airport “alive” or “dead” for the passenger who has to wait for a flight.
This may be the most surprising ranking…though. In any case, we can see that the work carried out in Amsterdam is bearing fruit as well as at Orly!
But we are still far from what we can see in Dubai or Singapore…
Bottom line
A ranking no more stupid than any other, even if the figures used are debatable. But the evaluation of an airport is complicated because it takes into account a large number of parameters that make it very complex.
Starting with the journey which is never the same between a “premium” traveler and a “tourist” traveler, between a departing passenger, an arriving passenger or a connecting passenger… I don’t see the average duration of the police or security checks.
In short, we have at least learned that an “upper-medium” airport serving a “small capital”, and hub of a medium-sized airline will be more user-friendly than a huge airport serving as a single hub for a major. But we already knew that.
The report is available online here.
Image : Airport terminalby Shine Nucha via Shutterstock
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