Every Airport That Won This Year Spent at Least a Billion

J.D. Power’s 2026 North America Airport Satisfaction Study, released in September, handed Minneapolis-Saint Paul the mega-airport title for a third consecutive year with 684 points on a 1,000-point scale. Detroit took second at 663 and Phoenix Sky Harbor third at 642. Tampa led the large-airport group with 715, ahead of Portland at 708 and Dallas Love Field at 698. Charleston topped the medium category with 712, followed by Ontario at 705 and Indianapolis at 695. Scores rose across every class — 14 points for mega airports, 13 for large and 16 for medium — which is unusual in a year of near-record passenger volume.

The study’s own explanation for the improvement is blunt. Every category winner has completed, or is close to completing, a capital project costing at least a billion dollars. Michael Taylor, J.D. Power’s managing director for travel, hospitality and retail, told CNBC that in this industry improvement begins with a b, as in billion. What passengers actually rewarded was more specific than money, though: legible signage, short and direct routes to the gate, and terminals whose architecture and food reflect the city outside. Food, beverage and retail scores rose eight points, helped by local restaurants rather than national chains.

The bottom of the table is the same argument read backwards. Chicago O’Hare and Newark Liberty tied last among mega airports at 585 points. O’Hare’s eight-billion-dollar terminal programme began last year, and Taylor described the airport to the Chicago Sun-Times as a very crowded environment that remains too small for its traffic. Denver scored 602, eighteenth of twenty, despite gaining six points, with construction running into 2027. The pattern is that capital spending punishes travellers with hoardings, detours and reduced capacity for years before delivering anything, and only then lifts sentiment.

Two caveats are worth carrying into any argument about the list. The study drew on 24,710 surveys collected from July 2025 through July 2026 from US and Canadian residents who had used an airport in the previous thirty days, and Canadian airports were excluded from the published rankings after a sampling change. It also measures perceived experience rather than fares, route breadth or on-time performance. A composite score hides enormous variation between terminals at the same airport, which is why frequent flyers spend every September arguing that their own worst airport somehow finished fourth.

Sources: Business Traveller, J.D. Power