Americans love to fly, but not all flying experiences are created equally. Similarly, not all airports offer the same caliber of service.
There are numerous ways to judge an airport’s quality, and it seems like every few months, there’s a new set of flight hub rankings. AirHelp’s 2025 airport rankings were just released, with one American facility standing out above the rest.
Salt Lake City International Airport checked in as the best in America, according to AirHelp’s grading system. Overall, the 114-year-old airport ranked eighth in the world, the only representative from the United States in the top 20.
AirHelp establishes its rankings by weighing each airport in three different categories: on-time performance, which accounts for 60% of the grade, and customer service and food and shops, which each count for 20%.
The publication ranked 250 airports in 68 countries, analyzing flights from June 1, 2024 through May 31, 2025.
“There are over 4,000 airports in our database, which we whittled down to 250, based on the busiest airports according to flight traffic, and most popular with air travelers,” AirHelp said. “We aim to rank the world’s major airports, but it’s worth noting that some are excluded due to a lack of data.”
What makes Salt Lake City so special
Salt Lake City’s overall score was 8.29, led by 8.3 marks in on-time performance and food and shops.
“A flight arriving within 15 minutes of its scheduled arrival time is considered on-time,” AirHelp explained
“We calculated how many flights were on time and expressed this number as a percentage. The higher the score, the higher the percentage of on-time flights. For example, a score of 8.5 means 85% of flights were on time.”
Salt Lake City’s lowest grade was an 8.1 in customer opinion. That score was calculated on four factors: airport staff, wait times, accessibility and cleanliness.
SLC Airport is growing
In 2024, Salt Lake City International Airport set a new record with 28,364,610 passengers served, up more than five percent from 2023.
Beginning in 2020, the airport began rolling out an expanded and modernized terminal, known as “The New SLC.” The $5 billion project has been opened in phases and will be completed in 2026.
In addition to a new 909,000-square-foot hub and two concourses, the renovations also include expanding Salt Lake City’s gate capacity from 45 to 94, more than doubling its flight capabilities.
