A Midwestern airport has again ranked ahead of better-known hubs in New York and Los Angeles, taking the top spot among North America’s largest airports.
Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport led the mega-airport category for the third year in a row in J.D. Power’s 2026 rankings. Tampa International Airport and Charleston International Airport topped the large- and medium-airport categories, respectively.
Travel industry expert Gary Leff said Minneapolis offers connecting passengers plenty to do without leaving the secure area. It is also relatively close to both downtowns and accessible by light rail, he said. The walks between some gates can be long, though they remain manageable.
Minneapolis received 684 points out of 1,000. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport came second among mega airports with 663, followed by Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport with 642.
Tampa scored 715 points to lead large airports. Portland International Airport placed second with 708, and Dallas Love Field came third with 698. In the medium-airport category, Charleston earned 712 points, ahead of Ontario International Airport at 705 and Indianapolis International Airport at 695.
Leff said Tampa is well organized, even though passengers need to travel between concourses. Charleston, meanwhile, is small enough to be easy to get around, he said. In his view, the best airports help people get where they are going without unnecessary difficulty.
Passenger satisfaction rose across all three airport categories. J.D. Power said the highest-ranked airports have recently finished, or are nearing completion of, major improvement projects. Those investments appear to be contributing to higher satisfaction scores, said Michael Taylor, the company’s managing director of travel, hospitality and retail.
Leff cautioned that an attractive renovation does not necessarily make an airport easy to use. New York’s LaGuardia, for example, has a striking central terminal but can still be difficult to navigate. He said he was not surprised that New York and Los Angeles airports did not rank higher.
He pointed to San Francisco International Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport as examples of airports that are close to their cities and relatively simple to navigate. The study also found that clear signs and easy wayfinding are important to passenger satisfaction.
Food, beverage and retail scores improved by eight points from the previous year. J.D. Power’s North America Airport Satisfaction Study, now in its 21st year, measures seven parts of the passenger experience, including navigation, trust, terminal facilities, staff, food and shopping, and the journeys to and from the airport.
J.D. Power defines mega airports as those handling at least 33 million passengers annually. Large airports serve 10 million to 32.9 million passengers, while medium airports handle 4.5 million to 9.9 million. The 2026 findings are based on 24,710 completed surveys from U.S. and Canadian residents who had traveled through at least one airport in either country.
