Flying out of a bad airport is the absolute pits. What do you mean there’s nowhere to sit down, nowhere to charge your phone and only one café selling extortionate, but somehow always soggy, sandwiches? Luckily for London, one of our local flight hubs has been named as one of the top airports in the world. 

London Heathrow (LHR) has been named one of the planet’s best airports by the Readers’ Choice Awards 2026. Decided purely on votes from ’s UK readership, LHR was named the best in the world alongside only one other hub: Istanbul Airport in Turkey. 

In the awards, Heathrow topped the category for best UK airports, with a score of 82.22. It beat London City, Edinburgh, Gatwick and Stansted airports, which all also featured in the ranking. did not reveal how airports were scored or why people voted for LHR in particular. The awards spanned categories all across travel, including best airlines, best resorts and best cruise lines. 

Heathrow has been picking up accolades all over the place recently. At the end of last month the ‘Oscars of the aviation industry’ declared LHR to be home to one of the world’s top independent airline lounges. And earlier this year, London Heathrow was also crowned one of the planet’s best in the Skytrax’s World Airport Awards. Coming in 16th in the world, Heathrow was the highest-ranked British airport on the global list. The London flight hub also picked up the top prize for the World’s Best Shopping Airport thanks to its more than 345 retail and food-and-beverage units. 

Exciting: you can now travel from London to Italy, Germany and more with one train ticket. 

The world’s best airlines for 2026 are in – and there’s a new number one.