Palma airport’s year just seems to get worse. Leaks every time it rains, long queues at border control for British and other non-EU members, trouble with building work and collapsing ceilings, parking problems and long waits for taxis not to mention delays and cancellations. And now it has been revealed that Palma’s Son San Joan airport has one of the worst records for punctuality, if not the worst, in Spain this year to date.
21.2% of the more than 455,000 flights that took off from Spain were delayed or cancelled during the first half of 2025, according to data from AirHelp, which indicates that more than 650,000 people may be entitled to compensation. Although the number of delayed flights improved slightly during the first six months, the number of cancellations increased compared to last year.
By airport, and taking into account those with more than 2,000 scheduled flights per month, passengers departing from Granada-Jaén were the luckiest. Of the 2,000 flights that took off from this airport, 89.4% did so on time. They are followed by the airports of Asturias and Melilla, which are ranked as the second and third best airports in the first half of the year, with punctuality rates of 88.4% and 87.9%, respectively.
In contrast, the airports in Palma and Lanzarote performed the worst. Mallorca achieved a punctuality rate of 73.4%, while the Canary Islands airport 74.5%. Meanwhile, the major airports in Madrid and Barcelona had air traffic levels of approximately 14.6 and 12.4 million passengers. In terms of punctuality, 78.9% of flights departed on time from Madrid airport and 81% from Barcelona airport.
According to AirHelp, Iberia Express continues to be the most punctual airline. During the period studied, 41 flights operated by the low-cost airline departed from Spanish airports, carrying more than 6,200 passengers to their destinations, of which 21.5% suffered some kind of disruption.
Since 2015, the AirHelp Score has helped passengers make more informed decisions by ranking the performance of airlines and airports worldwide. Similarly to last year, and to better serve passengers ahead of the busy summer months, airport and airline rankings will be published separately, ensuring passengers have timely access to the latest airport performance data.
This year’s ranking includes 250 airports from across 68 countries – an increase of 11 airports compared to 2024. Each airport was assessed in three key categories of Punctuality, Customer Opinions, and Food & Shops. The data reveals another disappointing year for European airports, with only nine airports making it into the top 50 and Liverpool John Lennon Airport emerging as the first British airport, in 35th place.
The global ranking for 2025 reveals Cape Town Airport in South Africa as the world’s leading airport, scoring 8.57 points overall. It overtakes Doha Hamad Airport in Qatar, last year’s number one, which now holds second place with a strong score of 8.52 points. Riyadh King Khaled Airport has risen through the ranks from 33rd place in 2024, to third place this year with 8.47 points. Brasília–Presidente Juscelino Kubitschek Airport in Brazil takes fourth place, having moved up one position from last year. It achieved an overall score of 8.47, bolstered by an impressive 8.6 for punctuality. Finally, Muscat Airport makes the top five global airports, scoring 8.47 points overall.
Among UK airports, Leeds Bradford Airport experienced a sharp decline, falling 63 places from 69th to 132nd, due in part to a low restaurant score of just 6.9. London Gatwick continues to rank as the worst-performing UK airport, coming in at 235th overall. Meanwhile, the country’s busiest hub, Heathrow Airport, saw modest progress, climbing 22 places from 200th to 178th in the global rankings.
In contrast, Liverpool John Lennon Airport made the most significant improvement, soaring 108 places to rank 35th globally with a score of 7.99. The second-best performing UK airport is London City Airport, which rose 26 spots, moving from 82nd to 56th with a score of 7.87. Airports in Nordic countries performed especially well in this year’s score, with four of the top five European airports being Scandinavian. Scoring an impressive 8.27 points overall, Norway’s Bergen Flesland Airport has soared to 9th place globally, climbing from 25th last year and earning the title of Europe’s best airport in 2025. Close behind is Bilbao Airport in Spain, with a score of 8.16 points and making an impressive leap from 29th to 16th place, securing its spot as the continent’s second-highest ranked airport.
Bodø Airport in Norway is in third place having improved its overall rank from 27th to 23rd place this year, with a score of 8.07 points. In fourth place is Oslo Gardermoen Airport, also in Norway, which achieved 8.04 points and ranks 28th overall. Rounding out the top five is Reykjavik Keflavik Airport in Iceland, placing 30th globally with a score of 8.02 points.