When it comes to which airport to fly from, there are a number of factors we tend to consider. 1: can I realistically get there? 2: are the shops at the terminal good? And 3: does it actually fly to my chosen destination? As Yorkshire folk, we’re pretty easily pleased, you see… Which is why we were pretty surprised to see our local airport had been absolutely dragged through the mud in The Telegraph’s latest ranking of the UK’s most popular airports.
Coming in joint last place with Bristol, Leeds Bradford Airport was criticised for an array of weaknesses, including reliability, the design of the terminals (which, apparently isn’t up to scratch!) and the number of flight cancellations.
Leeds Bradford Airport reportedly suffered cancellations of 2% of its flights last year, which played a large part in the airport tumbling to the bottom of the rankings.
The airport was also criticised for its location, too, which sits around 8 miles away from central Leeds and 9 miles from Bradford, and takes around 35 minutes to travel to.
While LBA took quite the beating in the rankings, it did score fairly for Wifi accessibility and generous seating, although, this wasn’t enough to help it climb a few spots in The Telegraph’s overall rankings.
Here’s the list in full:
- London City
- Gatwick
- Heathrow
- Newcastle
- East Midlands
- Luton
- Birmingham
- Liverpool
- Edinburgh
- Aberdeen
- Manchester
- Stansted
- Glasgow
- Belfast International
- Bristol
- Leeds Bradford
Since the research was released, LBA has had their say on the matter, promising that they are “striving to do better”.
A statement reads: “We are disappointed by this ranking. As an ambitious airport, we’re striving to do better.
“Looking to the future, we’re moving ahead with plans to dramatically improve our passengers’ experience through upgrades to our terminal, and we continuously work with airlines and ground handling agents to minimise delays and cancellations to flights.”
LBA has been one of the numerous airports to face significant delays in recent months, with travellers reportedly missing their flights due to delays at the security gates, despite arriving the recommended three hours before their flight time. The airport has since blamed the issue on “ongoing recruitment and training activities”.
[Featured image: LBA]
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