INSIDE
EXPANSION
Asdemand
keepsclimbing,
airportexecs
wonderhow
muchgrowth
istoomuch. R3M
aybefriendly really is as good as it gets when it comes
to airports.
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, which
bills itself as America’s friendliest airport, scored best
among the 20 largest U.S. airports in this year’s Wall
Street Journal airport rankings.
We also decided this year to rank the 20 largest air-
ports after that—let’s call them medium-size. We split
them into two categories because large hubs really
have different challenges.
Tampa International Airport ranked slightly higher
than Portland International Airport in Oregon. Both have strong followings
among frequent travelers for their ease of use and amenities.
At the bottom of the rankings in both size categories: anything close to
New York. New York Kennedy and Newark Liberty placed 19th and 20th, re-
spectively, in the large airport category. New York LaGuardia scored lowest
in the medium-size category.
The WSJ ranked airports by five measures of operations, such as on-time ar-rivals, five measures of value, such as av-
erage fare, and five measures of conve-
nience, including a grade from readers.
More than 2,500 subscribers answered a
detailed questionnaire covering a dozen
categories of likes and dislikes at airports
they’ve used within the past two years.
It says something about the state of
airports in the U.S. that the highest WSJ
reader score was only a B, with Detroit
Metro’s score the highest among large
airports. Six got C grades or lower. The
average GPA: C+.
Phoenix excelled in several of the 15 cat-
egories, with short screening waits, fast
Wi-Fi, good Yelp scores for restaurant re-
views, short taxi-to-takeoff times for
planes and cheap average Uber cost to getdowntown. It also scored well among Wall
Street Journal readers.
Sky Harbor overtook Denver, last year’s
winner, largely on the Phoenix airport’s
improved average Yelp rating for restau-
rants and an investment in faster Wi-Fi
triggered by customer complaints. The
airport has the advantage of favorable
weather. It jumped to No. 2 among the 20
largest from No. 18 in Wi-Fi speed last
year, according to testing service Ookla.
Denver also suffered many more opera-
tions problems in the past 12 months.
Phoenix finished third overall last year,
also trailing Orlando.
Sky Harbor focuses on making a big
airport—an inherently stressful and im-
PleaseturntothebackpageILLUSTRATION BY IVAN CANU; SHUTTERSTOCK (RANKINGS)RIDE-SHARING
AIRPORTRANKINGS
Forlargeairports,
turn to pages R4-5
For midsize airports,
turn to R8Facilities are
trying to get
creative to untie
the knots at
pickup and drop-
off ramps around
the country. R2FOOD
Concourse
Cuisine
Diningoptions
get livelier and
more local as
cities bring in area
favorites. R6TheWSJ Airport Rankings
expand to measure how the
40 largest U.S. airports stack up
ByScott McCartney
The CitiesThat
RuletheRunways
BEST AIRPORTS 2019
© 2019 DowJones&Company.AllRightsReserved. THEWALLSTREETJOURNAL. Thursday,November 1 4, 2019 |R1