Passenger numbers, car parking charges, and departure delays are among a range of factors which have contributed to Dublin Airport featuring among Europe’s ten most stressful airports in a new study.
The analysis, from StressFreeCarHireRental, which is released by the travel experts every year, saw Dublin rank at number eight on the list.
The most stressful airport in Europe according to the data was Charles-de-Gaulle in Paris, while Zagreb in Croatia ranked as the least stressful.
Charles-de-Gaulle airport took the crown for the most stressful, largely due to the high volumes of passengers travelling through, and a high departure delay score.
Destinations were ranked based on five stress-inducing factors: passenger numbers, distance from the city centre, number of flight destinations, car parking charges and departure delays. Ten popular airports were chosen for analysis.
Dublin ranked as eighth most stressful in the 2024 index, with the data pointing out that Ireland’s biggest airport is just 15.57 km away from the city centre and charges passengers €107 a week to park.
The airport saw 33,522,493 passengers pass through its doors in 2023, offering a total of 184 flight destinations. The travel provider gave Dublin a departure delay score of 1.5 out of 5.
However, London Heathrow ranked worse than Dublin, earning third place on the list. Heathrow had the most expensive car parking charge on the index, with passengers having to pay €143.34 for a week’s parking.
Despite almost 80 million travellers passing through Heathrow airport each year, the London destination has a departure delay score of 1.8 out of five on the index.
Schiphol, Charles-de-Gaulle, Rome and Lisbon airports all have a higher departure delay score of at least 2.3 out of five, despite receiving millions less annual visitors.
The second most stressful airport after Charles-de-Gaulle was Schiphol Airport in Holland, with a weekly car park charge of €113.50. The Amsterdam airport has one of the highest number of destinations passengers can fly to, at 260, making it more stress-inducing for passengers, according to the index.
Rome airport was the cheapest to park at (€27.60), followed by Madrid charging (€36). However, Rome ranked as the fourth most stressful due to over 40 million annual passengers and 225 destinations to fly to.
Athens featured at number five on the list; Madrid came in sixth place; Lisbon in seventh; while Berlin was placed the ninth most stressful airport after Ireland in eighth place. Zagreb took tenth spot on the list.