Some airports function better than others – anyone who’s flown from more than one hub in their lives knows that – but to understand which are the most impressive, and taking the biggest strides when it comes to customer experience and eco-innovation, let’s turn to the ACI Europe Best Airport Awards.
The ACI – short for the Airports Council International – recently published a list of winning hubs across a load of different categories, such as the digital transformation award, which was won by Munich thanks to its use of AI and robots to improve passenger experience, and the HR excellence award, claimed by Lyon Airport.
But airports of various sizes have been recognised for their operations, and in the smallest, sub-5 million passengers category, Ireland’s Cork Airport has claimed the crown.
Why? Well, according to the ACI Europe website, it ‘demonstrated strong performance across a range of metrics — including a period of booming passenger growth (+10 percent, year on year), all whilst enhancing operational efficiency, passenger experience and environmental responsibility.’
But the airport also took solid steps in the name of sustainability, achieving the title of ‘best performing commercial semi-state body in Ireland’ for carbon reduction for the second year in a row, all while maintaining high customer service standards.
Not bad, eh? Read on for all the awards announced for 2025.
These are the results of the ACI Europe Best Airport Awards for 2025
- Award For Exceptional Resilience – Ukrainian Airports
- Digital Transformation Award – Munich Airport
- Eco-Innovation Award – Maastricht-Aachen Airport
- HR Excellence Award – Lyon Airport
- World Business Partner Award – Ella Soltani, To70 Aviation
- In the under 5 million passengers category – Cork Airport
- In the 5-10 million passengers category – Vasil Levski Sofia Airport
- In the 10-25 million passengers category – Hamburg Airport
- In the 25-40 million passengers category – Athens International Airport
- Over 40 million passengers – Rome Fiumicino Airport
Did you see that Europe’s best airports were named in a new ranking – with top two in neighbouring capital cities?
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