Humberto Delgado Airport, in Lisbon, appears among the worst in the world in the AirHelp Score 2026, occupying 274th position among 279 airports analyzed, with an overall score of 6.59, ahead only of the airports of Islamabad, Hurghada, Ho Chi Minh, Lahore and Tunis-Carthage.
There is good news and bad news for Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport. The bad: it is the sixth worst in the world. The good: in 2019, in the Airhelp ranking, .
This year’s edition of evaluated 279 airports from 76 countriesthe highest number ever, based on performance recorded between May 1, 2025 and April 30, 2026.
According to the score, three criteria are taken into account: punctualitywhich weighs 60% in the final evaluation; passenger experiencewith 20%; and facilities and comfortalso with 20%.
Lisbon once again became the worst rated Portuguese airport.
A punctuality was the most penalizing indicatorwith 6.30 points. In facilities and comfort, the airport scored 6.80, while the passenger experience was rated at 7.30.
According to AirHelp’s analysis, the high volume of traffic, estimated at around 225 thousand flights annually, continues to put pressure on the operational performance of the infrastructure.
At the national level, the Faro Airport remained the best classified for the second year in a row. The Algarve infrastructure ranked 125th worldwide, with a global score of 7.61. Faro got 7.90 in punctuality7.60 in passenger experience and 6.90 in facilities and comfort. Still, it fell a little compared to the previous year, when it ranked 118th.
O Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport, in Portoappears in second place among the Portuguese, in 192nd position worldwide, with 7.41 points. AirHelp highlights a improvement compared to 2025, especially in the passenger experiencea criterion in which the Porto airport achieved 8.20 points. In terms of punctuality, it was 7.20, and in terms of facilities and comfort it was 7.30.
Already the Cristiano Ronaldo Airport, in Madeira, fell to 262nd positionafter being ranked 201st in the previous ranking. The overall score was 6.96, penalized mainly by the facilities and comfort, rated at 5.70 points. The decline could reflect a less favorable passenger perception of available amenities.
At a global level, the ranking is led by Tocumen Airportin Panama City, with 8.48 points. Next are Fortaleza, in Brazil, and Cape Town Airport, in South Africa, which topped the list in 2025.
Brazil is one of the great highlights of this year’s edition, placing five airports in the top 10: Fortaleza, Brasília, Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont, Belém and Rio de Janeiro Galeão.
As explained by the AirHelp representative in Portugal, Pedro Madalenothe performance of Brazilian airports mainly reflects a less exposure to global disturbances naviation and good operational performance.
Conversely, the Middle East airports lost positionsaffected by disruptions in air traffic between 2025 and 2026. North American airports also recorded a general decline.
In Europe, performance improved slightlywith 13 airports in the world’s top 50, more than in the previous year.
The ranking shows a favorable trend for smaller airportswhich, as they are less subject to congestion, large passenger flows and chain delays, usually present better punctuality results.
