Meanwhile, TAP rose 28 places in AirHelp's airline quality ranking, rising from 61st in 2019 to 33rd this year. The Irish airline Ryanair was in penultimate place in a list that includes 64 carriers.

According to a statement from the company that processes passenger compensation claims, TAP improved its score in the various areas assessed in the study, achieving 5.99 points for punctuality, 7.82 for quality of service, and 6.76 for handling complaints. The airline achieved a global rating of 6.86 points, which compares with 6.03 points in 2019.

Qatar Airways was again considered the best airline in the world, with a global score of 8.11. On the podium were United Airlines (8.07) and Qantas Airways (8.02). AirHelp also highlights the significant rise in the ranking of the German Eurowings (6th place) and the low-cost Transavia (26th place).

At the opposite extreme, in last place, is China Eastern Airlines, with a score of just 4.69. The penultimate place is occupied by Ryanair, which scores very poorly in handling complaints. Canadian Westjet and Turkish Pegasus Airlines stand out in position losses.

Lisbon Airport

The AirHelp Score 2022 also covers airports and Humberto Delgado is back at the bottom of the table, occupying the 143rd position in a list of 151 infrastructures from around the world, with a score of just 6.75 points.

Francisco Sá Carneiro is the Portuguese airport with the best ranking (7.67 points), ranking 54th. At the European level, it is the seventh best, in a ranking that is led by Barajas airport, in Madrid. Porto's infrastructure had already been distinguished this year in the ASQ Awards of the Airports Council International, as one of the best airports with between 5 and 15 million passengers per year. The study also evaluated Faro airport, which ranked 108th globally.

Tokyo Haneda International Airport was considered the best in the world, with 8.83 points. Guararapes–Gilberto Freyre, in the Brazilian state of Recife, came in second. Third, another Japanese airport appears Tokyo Narita.

AirHelp draws up the ranking based on three criteria, with different weights: punctuality (60 percent), service quality (20 percent), and restaurants and stores (20 percent). The organisation says it “collects data from various commercial providers”, combining it to create its own flight information database. “We cross-check our statistics with a variety of reliable sources, including government agencies, airport databases, flight tracking providers, and historical resources”. The quality of service at airports and airlines is assessed based on passenger surveys, in collaboration with the Attest platform.

Criticism

The previous report by AirHelp, which already placed Humberto Delgado among the worst in the world, was hotly contested by the Executive President of ANA and by the Government during a hearing in Parliament in July. The CEO of the concessionaire, Thierry Ligonnière, said that the AirHelp study “is a lame montage carried out by a commercial company that feeds on claims claimed from airlines”. He also questioned the credibility of the ranking, considering that it uses “obscure sources, with no indication of sampling or description of methodology”.

The Minister of Infrastructure, Pedro Nuno Santos, also criticised the study, pointing out that the National Civil Aviation Authority, in response to the ANA, made “a very critical note about the AirHelp methodology”.