Malaga Airport, among the best in the world in a leading industry ranking

It is estimated that there are about 9,000 airports around the world where commercial flights operate. To determine the best ones, Airhelp, the leading global technology company in defending passenger rights, has been compiling the AirHelp Score ranking since 2015, which includes 250 airports from 68 different countries worldwide. Fourteen Spanish air infrastructures are part of it, one of which is Malaga Airport.

Specifically, this technology company highlights the significant leap made by Malaga Airport, which has climbed 55 positions to rank 124th globally this year, with a score of 7.56 points. Nationally, it is considered the seventh best airport in Spain, surpassing Barcelona's El Prat, Alicante, or Palma de Mallorca, which is at the bottom of the list of Spanish airports included in the global ranking.

For this classification, AirHelp evaluates three factors: punctuality, with a weight of 60%; user opinion, with 20%; and the quality of dining and shopping facilities, with another 20%. "The data mainly comes from AirHelp's analytics platform, which monitors more than 4,000 airports worldwide, as well as from recent passenger experiences collected between June 1, 2024, and May 31, 2025," they detail.

Based on these criteria, Bilbao Airport is the first Spanish airport to appear in the AirHelp ranking. It ranks 16th in the global classification and also becomes the second-best airport in Europe with an overall score of 8.16 points, scoring 8.3 in punctuality, 8 in customer rating, and 7.7 in leisure facilities such as shops and restaurants.

124

is the position where Malaga Airport ranks in this global ranking, although it is considered the seventh best in Spain.

The second national airport in the ranking is Seville, which ranks 68th in its second year in this ranking after improving thirty positions from the previous year and receiving a score of 7.78, resulting from an average of 7.9 in punctuality; 8.1 in user opinion, and 7.2 in services.

In the new edition, the third place is occupied by Madrid-Barajas Airport, which continues to drop positions compared to other national airports and, after falling 26 positions, ranks 76th in the world ranking. Nevertheless, its average remains notable, with a 7.75.

Valencia, Fuerteventura, Tenerife Norte, Alicante, Barcelona, Gran Canaria, Tenerife Sur, Lanzarote, Ibiza, and Palma de Mallorca are also among the top 250 airports in the world. Ahead of Malaga is also Valencia Airport, which ranks 81st in the world and fourth in the country, with an average score of 7.73. As the fifth Spanish airport, a new addition to the list is Fuerteventura Airport, which arrives to position itself as the 88th in the world with a 7.70. Just ahead of Costa del Sol is Tenerife Norte, in the sixth position in Spain and 105th considering other international airports. The rating of the Canary Island airport is 7.63.

Airhelp points out that the two Balearic airports on the list, Ibiza and Palma de Mallorca, have dropped 125 and 86 positions respectively in the ranking compared to last year. Thus, Ibiza ranks 203rd and Palma de Mallorca 208th. The same occurs with the second most important airport nationally, El Prat in Barcelona, which ranks ninth in Spain and 127th in the world, with a score of 7.55, after dropping 38 positions in a year.

The best in the world

Globally, the airport leading this ranking is Cape Town Airport in South Africa, with 8.57 points, followed by Doha Hamad Airport in Qatar, with 8.52; and Riyadh King Khaled Airport in Saudi Arabia, with 8.47. Malaga has direct flights to these last two destinations.

Airhelp explains why European airports do not reach higher positions, thus justifying that Europe only has one airport among the top ten in the world, Bergen Flesland Airport in Norway, with an 8.27. This situation is an improvement from last year but contrasts with airports in the Middle East, South Africa, and North America, which receive significantly higher ratings. In this regard, they point out that "although the European regulation EC 261 is one of the most comprehensive regulations on air passenger rights, its effectiveness is mainly limited to delays exceeding three hours. Therefore, for this report, AirHelp considers punctuality issues starting from 15 minutes of delay."