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This underrated London airport has been crowned the best in Europe

It won big at the prestigious ACI Europe Best Airport Awards 2024

India Lawrence
Written by
India Lawrence
Contributing writer
Luton airport from above
Photograph: Captain_Kangaroo / Shutterstock.com
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Luton Airport might get a bad rep, but what if we told you it’s just been crowned one of the best flight hubs in Europe? That’s right, good old London Luton could actually be superior to both Heathrow and Gatwick. That definitely wasn’t on our 2024 bingo card.  

The north-of-London airport has just been named the Best Airport (10-25 million passengers) in the prestigious Airports Council International (ACI) Europe Best Airport Awards. Every year judges come together to judge Europe’s finest airports across a number of categories, including eco innovation, digital innovation and HR excellence.  

London Luton Airport took the top prize for the best medium sized airport in Europe. Judges were impressed by Luton’s ‘One Team, One Plan’ strategy, which has led to fewer incidents and high employee satisfaction on the team. The judges also lauded Luton for its net-zero by 2040 target, and celebrated how 2023 was its most profitable year yet, despite it having a temporary passenger cap. There was also a shout out to the Luton Dart airport shuttle, which has made getting to the airport from central London much easier. 

Luton was the only UK airport to take home a prize in this year’s awards. Heathrow just missed out on nabbing the award for Best Airport (more than 40 million passengers), coming in second place behind joint winners Istanbul Airport and Rome Fiumicino Airport. 

You can find out more about Luton’s victory on the official ACI Europe website here

ICYMI: This lesser-known London airport is tripling its number of passengers.

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