What’s the best and worst airport you’ve been to?
What Every Traveller Deserves
What’s the best and worst airport you’ve been to?
It is an interesting question, and I could probably name a few.
Most frequent travellers can.
There are airports you enter and immediately feel that somebody has thought carefully about the traveller.
Then there are airports where everything seems unnecessarily difficult.
Confusing signs. Endless queues. Poor toilets. Broken facilities. Unhelpful staff. Chaotic immigration desks. Slow baggage delivery. Nowhere comfortable to sit. Poor ventilation. Unreliable information. Officials sending passengers from one desk to another.
But rather than naming and shaming airports, perhaps there is a more useful question:
What should a truly excellent airport look like?
What would constitute a Gold Standard Airport—an airport designed not merely to process aircraft, but to serve human beings?
Interestingly, when you examine what the aviation industry considers important, the answer is remarkably comprehensive.
Skytrax’s airport passenger survey assesses airports across the entire traveller journey: access to the airport, check-in, seating, terminal comfort, cleanliness, immigration, security, staff courtesy, signage, flight-information displays, transit, washrooms, family facilities, Wi-Fi, charging points, accessibility, baggage delivery and much more. (World Airport Awards)
Airports Council International’s Airport Service Quality programme similarly measures what passengers actually experience, while its 2026 Global Traveller Survey points towards increasingly human-centred, personalised and memorable airport experiences, including wellbeing, flexibility, technology and trust. (ACI World)
So perhaps the world’s best airport is not necessarily the one with the biggest terminal.
It is the one that remembers why the terminal exists in the first place.
It exists to serve people.
1. The Gold Standard Begins With Vision
Before concrete is poured, terminals are expanded or expensive equipment is purchased, somebody must have a vision of what the airport is supposed to become.
The Bible says:
“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” — Proverbs 29:18, KJV
That principle reaches far beyond church life.
Organisations deteriorate when leadership becomes merely reactive.
The same is true of public infrastructure.
An airport without a long-term vision eventually becomes a collection of emergency repairs.
Something breaks—fix it temporarily.
Passenger numbers increase—add another queue.
Traffic grows—squeeze more people into the same terminal.
Toilets deteriorate—patch them.
Technology becomes obsolete—continue managing around it.
Eventually inefficiency becomes normal.
A Gold Standard Airport asks instead:
What will passenger numbers look like in ten, twenty or thirty years, and what must we build today to serve tomorrow well?
IATA recognises precisely this challenge. It says continued passenger growth will require new standards, harmonised regulation and adequate infrastructure, alongside technology that can create a more seamless, inclusive and secure journey. (IATA)
Vision thinks beyond today’s crisis.
2. Order Should Be Visible Everywhere
One of my favourite biblical principles concerning excellence is remarkably simple:
“Let all things be done decently and in order.” — 1 Corinthians 14:40, KJV
Although Paul was addressing order within Christian gatherings, the underlying virtue of order is worth carrying into everything we administer.
And nowhere is order more valuable than an airport.
A passenger should not require insider knowledge to navigate a terminal.
From the moment you approach the airport, there should be clarity.
Where do I park?
Where is public transport?
Where is departures?
Where do I check in?
Where is security?
Where is immigration?
Where is my gate?
Has my gate changed?
Where do I collect my baggage?
Where do I go if something goes wrong?
Good airport design reduces the number of questions a traveller needs to ask.
Great signage is therefore not decoration.
It is hospitality expressed through design.
Airport-industry assessments specifically examine wayfinding, terminal signage, clarity of boarding announcements, information displays, immigration processes, queues and ease of transit because all these seemingly small things combine to determine whether the traveller experiences order or confusion. (World Airport Awards)
3. Security Must Be Strong Without Stripping People of Dignity
Nobody reasonably objects to airport security.
We need it.
But security and courtesy are not enemies.
The best systems protect people while respecting them.
A revealing example comes from Skytrax’s assessment of airport security. Its criteria do not measure security processing merely by whether screening happens. They consider waiting times, queue organisation, efficiency, priority lanes, smart-security systems, preparation and repacking facilities—and the courtesy of security staff. (World Airport Awards)
That is important.
You can maintain authority without humiliation.
You can enforce regulations without treating every passenger as an inconvenience.
You can protect a nation while remembering that the person standing before you is still a human being.
The Bible says:
“Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.” — 1 Peter 2:17, KJV
Notice the simplicity of the first instruction:
Honour all men.
A Gold Standard Airport embeds dignity into its culture—from immigration to security, customer service, baggage handling and cleaning.
4. Clean Toilets Are Actually a Leadership Issue
This may sound almost too mundane for a serious discussion about national infrastructure.
It isn’t.
Walk into an airport washroom and you can sometimes learn a surprising amount about organisational culture.
Are facilities working?
Is there running water?
Is soap available?
Are toilets clean?
Are bins emptied?
Are baby-changing areas usable?
Can somebody with a disability access appropriate facilities?
These things reveal whether maintenance is systematic or merely reactive.
ACI’s research treats airport cleanliness as an important component of the passenger experience, and international airport surveys specifically assess terminal cleanliness, washroom cleanliness and hygiene. (Store | ACI World)
Excellence often reveals itself in ordinary things.
The grand entrance may impress a visiting dignitary.
The toilet tells you how the organisation treats everybody else.
5. Accessibility Must Never Be an Afterthought
Imagine navigating an airport while elderly.
Imagine doing it in a wheelchair.
Imagine travelling with impaired vision.
Imagine travelling with a child who has additional needs.
Imagine being unable to walk long distances through an enormous terminal.
Now design the airport.
That change of perspective matters.
Accessibility should influence lifts, toilets, signage, transport connections, seating, boarding arrangements, assistance points and staff training.
International aviation frameworks recognise accessibility as integral to air travel rather than an optional luxury. ICAO’s facilitation work addresses access for passengers with disabilities across different stages of the journey, while IATA explicitly includes accessible travel within its passenger-experience agenda. (ICAO)
A society’s infrastructure should not work beautifully only for the young, healthy and physically strong.
A Gold Standard Airport asks:
Can everybody use what we have built?
6. Technology Should Remove Friction, Not Create Another Queue
There is something almost comical about installing millions of pounds’ worth of technology only to station somebody beside it explaining why it does not work.
Technology is not excellence merely because it is digital.
Useful technology should make the journey simpler.
Self-service check-in.
Reliable baggage tracking.
Efficient bag drop.
Accurate flight information.
Contactless processing where appropriate.
Secure digital identification.
Fast, usable Wi-Fi.
Charging facilities.
Systems that speak to one another.
IATA’s work on common-use technology covers check-in, baggage drop, identity management, security access and boarding, with the purpose of creating more seamless and secure passenger processing. (IATA)
The goal should never be technology for technology’s sake.
The question should remain:
Does this make the passenger’s journey better?
7. Baggage Should Not Feel Like a Prayer Meeting
After a ten-hour flight, nobody wants to spend another ninety minutes staring hopefully at an empty carousel.
Baggage delivery is one of those airport functions passengers remember immediately when it goes wrong.
A Gold Standard Airport therefore treats baggage handling as a core performance issue.
Passengers should know where their bags are.
Transfers should work.
Carousels should operate reliably.
Lost-luggage processes should be clear.
Staff should be available when problems arise.
This is why international passenger-experience measures examine baggage-delivery times, priority baggage and lost-luggage services. (World Airport Awards)
Efficiency is not merely about machines.
It is about respecting people’s time.
8. Good Airports Understand That Travellers Are Human Beings, Not Cargo
Airports sometimes seem designed around aircraft rather than people.
But passengers get tired.
Children become restless.
Older people need seats.
Mothers need somewhere to care for babies.
People need water.
People become anxious when flights are delayed.
Transit passengers may spend six, eight or twelve hours inside a terminal.
A Gold Standard Airport therefore provides sensible seating, rest areas, family facilities, play areas, quiet spaces, drinking water, sensible food choices, charging points and decent communication during disruption.
ACI has increasingly emphasised looking at airport experience through the passenger’s entire journey and understanding both practical requirements and human emotions. (ACI World Insights)
That is an extraordinarily important management principle:
Put yourself in the passenger’s shoes.
It is very close to a principle Jesus gave us:
“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” — Matthew 7:12, KJV
Imagine applying that verse to public services.
If I were travelling with my elderly mother, how would I want her treated?
If my daughter’s flight were cancelled at midnight, what information would I want available?
If I could not speak the local language, how easy would this terminal be to navigate?
If I required wheelchair assistance, would the system preserve my dignity?
If my baggage disappeared, would anybody take responsibility?
Design for others as you would want others to design for you.
That may be one of the simplest definitions of customer-centred excellence ever written.
9. Money Matters—But Leadership Matters Too
We should be balanced here.
Building and maintaining world-class aviation infrastructure costs enormous amounts of money.
Some governments and airport authorities operate under genuine financial limitations. Passenger volumes, national income, geography, security requirements and historical infrastructure differ significantly between countries.
It would therefore be unfair to compare every airport purely by how luxurious it looks.
A small airport does not need to resemble a vast international hub.
But lack of money cannot explain everything.
Cleanliness does not always require billions.
Courtesy does not require a new terminal.
Clear signs are cheaper than confused passengers.
Preventive maintenance can be cheaper than endless breakdowns.
Accountability does not require marble floors.
Competent management does not depend upon luxury.
There are cash-strapped organisations with excellent cultures and wealthy organisations with terrible ones.
This is where leadership becomes decisive.
Some infrastructure problems ultimately reflect not simply inadequate resources but inadequate vision, poor maintenance culture, weak procurement, corruption, lack of accountability, political short-termism or leaders who have never seriously defined what excellence should look like.
You cannot deliberately build what you have never envisioned.
10. Stewardship Is the Biblical Alternative to Waste
Jesus taught a profound principle:
“He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.” — Luke 16:10, KJV
Public infrastructure is stewardship.
Money allocated to airports ultimately represents resources entrusted to somebody.
The question is not simply:
How much did we spend?
It is:
What did the spending produce?
Was the project necessary?
Was it properly procured?
Was it completed?
Does it work?
Is it maintained?
Will it still work ten years from now?
A terminal that costs billions but cannot maintain its toilets is not evidence of excellence.
A beautiful building combined with dysfunctional systems is not transformation.
Good stewardship converts resources into sustainable outcomes.
My Gold Standard Airport
So if I were asked to design the Gold Standard Airport, I would not begin with designer shops, spectacular architecture or luxury lounges.
Those things can be wonderful.
But they are not the foundation.
My Gold Standard Airport would have:
- Clear vision and long-term planning
- Excellent safety and security
- Fast, orderly passenger processing
- Clean, continuously maintained facilities
- Clear signage and effortless wayfinding
- Professional, courteous staff
- Accessible facilities for everyone
- Reliable technology that simplifies travel
- Efficient baggage handling
- Comfortable seating and sensible rest facilities
- Good transport connections
- Accurate, timely passenger information
- Proper contingency plans when things go wrong
- Transparent governance and financial stewardship
- A relentless culture of continuous improvement
And underneath all fifteen would sit one principle:
Respect the traveller.
Perhaps that is what differentiates a merely functional airport from a great one.
Excellence Is Ultimately a Mindset
The lesson reaches far beyond airports.
Roads.
Hospitals.
Schools.
Railways.
Government offices.
Churches.
Businesses.
Homes.
Excellence begins when somebody decides that “this is good enough” is no longer good enough.
Not because everything must be luxurious.
Not because every country has unlimited resources.
But because whatever has been entrusted to us deserves faithful stewardship.
The Scripture says:
“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.” — Colossians 3:23–24, KJV
That should challenge every Christian.
Whether we are pastors, politicians, engineers, cleaners, immigration officers, architects, airport managers, civil servants or business owners, Christianity should never become an excuse for mediocrity.
Our faith should make us more conscious of stewardship, not less.
More committed to order.
More respectful of people.
More trustworthy with resources.
More determined to serve well.
And perhaps the next time someone asks me,
“What’s the best and worst airport you’ve ever been to?”
my answer will be:
I am less interested in naming them than in asking what separates them.
Because somewhere between the excellent airport and the terrible one lies an important lesson about vision, leadership, stewardship, systems and respect for people.
And that lesson applies to nations as much as it applies to airports.
The Gold Standard is not extravagance.
It is excellence with purpose.
Cornelius Bella, Message Bearer
