Birmingham Airport voted second best in the country

In a new league table, the West Midlands premier airport was beaten only by Heathrow Terminal 5 when it came to ranking airports that see at least 10 million passengers or more each year.

The airport was rated four stars out of five for its baggage drop queues, three stars for its passport control queues, three stars for its security queues, two stars for its baggage reclaim, four stars for its seating and three stars for its toilets.

It received an overall customer score of 61 per cent.

Of all the airports in the country, Birmingham ranked 16th out of 31.

East Midlands was ranked 17th with a customer score of 60 per cent.

London Luton was named the UK’s worst airport by consumer group Which? for the third consecutive year.

It received a customer score of just 35 per cent after being given the lowest rating for half of the 10 categories assessed.

The airport responded to the findings by stating that its own research found that 70 per cent of passengers were “happy with their experience”.

Recent analysis of Civil Aviation Authority data found that London Luton is the worst UK airport for flight punctuality, with departures typically 20 minutes behind schedule last year.

London Stansted and Manchester (Terminal 3) both scored 44 per cent y, putting them in joint second-to-last place in customer satisfaction. Doncaster Sheffield earned the highest score of 87 per cent after passengers were particularly impressed with its security queues, baggage reclaim, prices in shops and food outlets, seating, toilets and staff, which were all given five stars.

London Southend was closely behind in second spot on 84 per cent, followed by Newcastle (74 per cent) and Southampton (73 per cent).

The best score out of Scotland’s airports was earned by Inverness (68 per cent), while Aberdeen received the lowest (49 per cent).

Cardiff was given a score of 64 per cent, while Belfast International and Belfast City were given 50 per cent and 62 per cent respectively.

The research was based on a survey of 11,265 passengers which was conducted in April and May. Some 521 were questioned about London Luton.

Scores were based on a combination of overall satisfaction and how likely respondents were to recommend the airport to a friend.

Rory Boland, editor of magazine Which? Travel, said: “Travellers want to start their trips in the smoothest way, but long queues through airports and a lack of facilities can cast a rain cloud over any getaway.

“With new routes launching all the time, passengers have an increasing choice over not just who they fly with but where they fly from.

“If you can pick a smaller airport, choose Southend over Luton, and Doncaster Sheffield or Liverpool instead of Manchester, to get your holiday off to a better start.”