Airports: the Airhelp ranking – Cagliari is the best airport, Orio al Serio the worst

When flight punctuality, passenger experience and services are taken into account, Cagliari-Elmas Airport is the best in Italia. This is according to a ranking compiled by Airhelp, a travel company specialising in flight disruptions. Fiumicino Airport (Italia’s busiest airport in terms of passenger numbers) is in tenth place. Applying the same criteria, Bergamo-Orio al Serio brings up the rear in the ranking; its result is heavily influenced by punctuality, with more than 30 per cent of flights experiencing delays and 10 per cent being cancelled.

The ranking compiled by AirHelp examined 279 airports worldwide and assessed them on the basis of three criteria: flight punctuality (accounting for 60 per cent of the score), passenger experience (20 per cent) and services (20 per cent). The latter two criteria are assessed via a survey that takes into account aspects such as staff, waiting times, accessibility, cleanliness, signage, information and the availability of restaurants and shops.

The picture that emerges from the world rankings is not particularly favourable for Italian airports, as Cagliari-Elmas – the country’s leading airport – ranks only 71st. In the world rankings, first place goes to Tirana Airport in Albania.

Sardinia’s main airport has a score of 7.78, driven mainly by punctuality, which scores 8: just 19 per cent of flights are delayed and only 1 per cent are cancelled. This result is rounded off by ratings for the passenger experience (7.5) and services (7.4).

In second place with a score of 7.75 is Bari, Italia’s tenth-busiest airport by passenger numbers (7.986 million in 2025). The main factor making the difference is the traveller experience, which scores 8.1 – the highest of the three airports on the podium.