Nowadays, we think of Schiphol as the worst airport in the Netherlands due to all its chaos and disruptions.
But, one Dutch airport was able to outperform it. (That is, by being better at being the worst.)
You heard it right, Schiphol isn’t at the bottom of the Dutch ladder, at least when it comes to flight delays, but rather Eindhoven Airport (EIN) took the crown. 👑
Says who?!
Travel booking website Hopper compiled the list of the top 10 worst-performing European airports, based on time performance.
Eindhoven Airport scored the third-lowest in Europe with a 67% rate for flight delays.
However, Schiphol Airport still managed to score worse than Eindhoven Airport when it comes to flight cancellations.
While only 1.8% of flights were cancelled at Eindhoven in July, 5.2% of Schiphol’s aircraft were — Europe’s second-worst cancellation rate after Frankfurt International Airport.
The top 10 list for worst performing European airports in July
Here are the worst performing European airports in terms of flight times and disruptions this month.
| Worst on-time performance in July | Flights delayed (%) | Flights cancelled (%) | |
| 1 | Brussels Airport (BRU) – Brussels, Belgium | 72% | 2.5% |
| 2 | Frankfurt International Airport (FRA) – Frankfurt, Germany | 68% | 7.8% |
| 3 | Eindhoven Airport (EIN) – Eindhoven, Netherlands | 67% | 1.8% |
| 4 | Luton Airport (LDN) – London, United Kingdom | 66% | 2.7% |
| 5 | Liszt Ferenc International Airport (BUD) – Budapest, Hungary | 65% | 2.1% |
| 6 | Lisboa Airport (LIS) – Lisbon, Portugal | 65% | 4.8% |
| 7 | Charles De Gaulle (CDG) – Paris, France | 62% | 3.1% |
| 8 | Schiphol Airport (AMS) – Amsterdam, Netherlands | 61% | 5.2% |
| 9 | Cote d’Azur Airport (NCE) – Nice, France | 60% | 3.4% |
| 10 | Gatwick Airport (LGW) – London, United Kingdom | 59% | 1.4% |
It’s no surprise that the worst-performing airports of the summer are ones located in the most popular travel hotspots, as they attract many tourists.
READ MORE | Icelandair has had enough: so they’ve sent their own staff to help at Schiphol
On the other hand, the best-performing airports are those in smaller or less popular regions like Bergamo, Italy and Alicante, Spain.
Though, now that the data is out, who knows if they’ll get flooded with flights now? 😬
Have you flown through any of these European airports? Tell us about your experiences in the comments below!
Other than cancellations and delays I believe Schiphol is the best and easiest airport in Europe; well designed and easy for the average passenger to find his/her gate.
Waited in the security line in Schipol for over three hours. Thought we’d missed our flight but KLM was kind enough to delay the flight for 2 hours so we and others could make it. We only arrived an hour late in LA . This was June 27th of this year.
Just connected through Schipol going to/leaving Copenhagen. No major issues. Ridiculous you have to go through passport control on both legs. Airport is too big. It takes too long if your gates are in different concourses when you also have to go through passport control, especially on a hot day with no air conditioning in the airport.
Not the 4 th worst in Europe but one of the worst in the world from one of the best before COVID. We cannot blame COVID but the management as well as government. I have travelled Johannesburg, Cape Town, Singapore, Chicago, LAX, Orlando, Milan, Dublin, Tokyo and Seoul the last 4 months. Schiphol does not come close to any of the above mentioned airports. On my arrival this morning, 20 minutes late, the gate was not ready, thus we stood waiting for 30 minutes for the gate to be opened so the aircraft could park. The escalator to get to passport control was not working. What happened to our beautiful airport that once was the pride of entry into NL?