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Press Release

UK airports: the good, the BAAd and the ugly

31 March 2009

Blackpool airport has beaten off competition from its bigger rivals to be crowned favourite by Which? Holiday, in the biggest survey of its kind.

Despite flying to fewer than 20 destinations, tiny Blackpool airport towers over much of the competition with Which? members awarding it an overall customer score of 80 per cent. London City airport came in a close second, with an overall customer score of 78 per cent.

Both airports received five stars for the efficiency of check-in, the time it takes to clear security and distance from check-in to the gate, and the overall airport experience, including signage, design of the airport and attitude of staff.

However, their larger BAA owned rivals in the South East brought up the rear of the results table, with London Heathrow Terminal 1 faring worst, scoring a paltry 31 per cent. Both North and South terminals at Gatwick, and Heathrow's Terminals 2, 3 and 4 complete the bottom six.

It's not all bad news for airport operator BAA, however. Despite its disastrous opening, Heathrow Terminal 5 was ranked in joint 23rd place of out 38 terminals, while BAA-owned Southampton was voted amongst the best, with an overall customer score of 71 per cent.

Doncaster Sheffield (Robin Hood) and Exeter also performed well, ranked in the top four UK airports.

Lorna Cowan, editor of Which? Holiday, says:
"It seems clear that Which? members prefer the experience of flying from smaller regional airports to using the larger ones. So it is well worth looking into the routes offered from smaller airports when planning a holiday to short-haul destinations."

"But people still need to use Gatwick and Heathrow for long-haul trips - our results suggest that these large airports need to work much harder to provide a better service for their passengers."



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