Airport travel habits and statistics

Enjoying time at the airport can seem impossible when all you want to do is get started with your journey. Delays, duty-free and dragging queues can add to your frustration - but did you know your chances of being delayed vary depending on your reason for travel?

Results from our latest survey show some interesting findings about the travellers most likely to encounter delays, and how people pass their time while waiting for their gate to open. With this data, here at Booking.com we can shed some light on [airport travel](https://www.booking.com/flights/index.en-gb.html) statistics from passengers around the world, and put together an idea of what airports of the future might look like based on travellers’ ideas.

The majority of people surveyed are travelling by plane 1-3 times a year (58%). This is a combination of holidaying, travelling for business, or visiting friends and family.

If your travels take you to Italy, you might want to make yourself comfortable. Our research reveals that this is the country where passengers experience the most delays, with 45% of travellers being held-up in the past 12 months. When looking at breakdowns of money spent on travel, those spending between £1,001-£2,000 were the most likely to be delayed. Passengers travelling 1-3 times a year were also more likely to be hindered in their holidays than more frequent fliers. 

We found that your reason for travel will also impact your likelihood of being delayed. Those travelling to visit family and friends encountered the fewest delays, which could be due to these flights having a higher chance of being domestic or short-haul. Correspondingly, travellers in the US, where the majority of travel is domestic, were the least likely to encounter delays (26%).

It’s those who travel for work who run into the most airport hold-ups, as 52% of people travelling for work in the last 12 months have encountered delays. 

After business, it’s the hobbyists (46%) and explorers (43%) who are most likely to come across delays.

If your travels take you to Italy, you might want to make yourself comfortable. Our research reveals that this is the country where passengers experience the most delays, with 45% of travellers being held-up in the past 12 months. When looking at breakdowns of money spent on travel, those spending between £1,001-£2,000 were the most likely to be delayed. Passengers travelling 1-3 times a year were also more likely to be hindered in their holidays than more frequent fliers. 

We found that your reason for travel will also impact your likelihood of being delayed. Those travelling to visit family and friends encountered the fewest delays, which could be due to these flights having a higher chance of being domestic or short-haul. Correspondingly, travellers in the US, where the majority of travel is domestic, were the least likely to encounter delays (26%).

It’s those who travel for work who run into the most airport hold-ups, as 52% of people travelling for work in the last 12 months have encountered delays. 

After business, it’s the hobbyists (46%) and explorers (43%) who are most likely to come across delays.

When it comes to airport facilities, in particular their eateries, there was an interesting breakdown of which travellers choose to spend their time and money on a meal. 

Canadian and Australian travellers are more likely to dine in at airports, with 72% of them happy to include a sit-down meal in their airport itinerary. Europeans in general are less likely to want to spend time in airport restaurants, with only 45% of Germans (the lowest percentage surveyed) using these facilities.

Indulging in a little duty-free retail therapy is also a big lure, with 57% of travellers saying they shop while waiting for their flight.

Over a quarter (27%) of travellers make use of the sleeping areas in airports. Unless your flight has an overnight connection, you would assume most people would rather wait to sleep on the plane. Could it be that people would rather nap than be tempted into spending their money? Our survey would suggest that either way, sleeping facilities in airports could be in need of some investment.

When it comes to making improvements, travellers consider faster security checks the biggest priority, with 45% citing it as an area in need of fixing, and a further 18% wanting a slow lane at security for the unprepared. Almost half of travellers flying for pleasure (48%) or to visit family and friends (46%) feel like they would benefit from being able to get through security that bit quicker.

Access to free water (40%) and more reasonably priced parking (43%) are also close to the top of the list. With places to refill reusable water bottles, and easier access to parking meaning fewer cars idling outside, investing in both of these areas could both help towards easing airport plastic waste and pollution. It makes sense that those travelling for education and discovery in particular were interested in access to free water (48%) - for example, backpackers looking to travel light with reusable water bottles, and minimising single-use purchases.

Interestingly, those travelling for rest and relaxation were found to be the most interested in shorter queues (40%), maybe to keep their airport experience as serene as possible. They were also the least interested in more charging points for their electronic devices (19%), possibly reflecting a desire to ‘switch off’. 

Of the 14 areas in need of improvement reported in the survey, decent sleeping facilities came in 5th. 28% of those surveyed are keen to have a better chance of catching some shut-eye at the airport. Passengers travelling for work expressed the least interest in sleeping areas.

Across all reasons for travel, the two areas where there was the least amount of interest in improvement were shops and additional departure screens - clearly two areas in which travellers find airports already up to scratch.

A few of the suggested fixes focus on helping travellers use their personal technology, such as increasing the number of charging points (24%), and better airport WiFi (26%).

Despite the warnings over expensive sunscreen and costly airport food/drink, the majority of travellers are more than happy to dip into their pockets at duty-free in search of tax-free bargains - particularly gadgets.

New electronic devices are where travellers are likely to spend the most money (£61.57 on average), which makes sense when these items are things they’re likely to use while travelling. Those travelling for work spend the most across all sectors, but especially on technology, with a mean spend of £145.50 going on new electronics.

Those travelling for pleasure were surveyed as spending the least, with their largest mean spend (£47.04) going on electronics, and their lowest spending (£14.20) going on toiletries - something they’re likely to have bought well in advance of their holiday.

Food, souvenirs, and perfume are also areas where travellers are likely to spend the most. Spanish travellers were found to be spending the most money on food (£56.64) and souvenirs (£60.64) compared to other countries. While Germans expressed the most interest in perfume (£59.21), and also spent the most on reading material such as books and magazines, spending a mean amount of £28.91.

When given the option to choose features they’d like to see in airports of the future, a high number of travellers opted for surprisingly time-consuming activities. 20% of those surveyed think that cinemas would be a good addition to an airport, with some even considering ice-skating rinks (4%) and swimming pools (8%). 

A quarter of travellers (25%) would like to see more green spaces in airports, likely in an effort to beautify these largely functional (and rather grey) places. Some airports have already invested in gardens - whether enclosed and indoors, or even rooftop - like [Changi Airport in Singapore](https://www.booking.com/flights/destination/to-airport/sg/sin.en-gb.html), which is host to 10 gardens. Spending time in nature has proven to have a positive impact on your mood, so a touch of greenery could help with some of the more stressful aspects of travel.

With this in mind, is it possible that instead of simply transitional spaces, airports could become hubs for work and leisure? With more entertainment options for those travelling for pleasure, and more of a focus on attractive surroundings, airports could be seen as places where time can be spent well, not just spent waiting. The interest in virtual assistants (13%), virtual queuing (17%), and touchscreen shopping (16%) could suggest that the simplification of certain airport processes would give people more time to dedicate to leisure.

And for those travelling for work, the integration of dedicated workspaces - something that nearly a quarter of travellers (24%) want to see in the future - could mean that work trips become more productive, as well as more pleasant.

It’s not a reach to assume travellers looking for even more airport entertainment options are already happy to spend their money in duty-free. But could upgrades like the ones mentioned above tempt those who avoid duty-free to part with their money?

In 2022, [Atlanta GA International Airport](https://www.booking.com/flights/destination/city/us/atlanta.en-gb.html) was the busiest airport based on passenger traffic alone, welcoming 75,704,760 people through its doors. Based on the figures found indicating that 18.11% of passengers avoid duty-free, it’s estimated that ATL missed out on a potential £428,304,524.80 worth of sales from these thriftier travellers.

If you compare this number to the busiest airport in 2022 based on international passenger traffic alone - [Dubai International Airport](https://www.booking.com/flights/destination/to-airport/ae/dxb.en-gb.html) - the amount of potential money lost drops to £164,695,133.50. Still a huge sum, but less than half of Atlanta’s. 

In fact, the top seven busiest airports (not focusing on international traffic only) were mostly US-based, (with two exceptions in China). It could be suggested that while these airports see the most traffic, the majority of it will be domestic, giving people less need to shop for souvenirs and travel accessories, and duty-free sales the most to lose.

Conclusion

While seasoned travellers are more than aware of the frustrations that come with delays, many could enjoy their waits more if new desirable features, such as outdoor spaces or dedicated study areas, were found within airports. 

Queues and long waits are always stressful, so speeding up security processes is always going to be a desire for travellers. After all, time spent standing in line would be better used enjoying the work and leisure areas at the airports of the future.

Methodology

To uncover these findings, we commissioned a global Censuswide survey, with 7,299 respondents who have been on holiday/travelled from countries including: Spain, Italy, Germany, US, UK, Canada and Australia. We define travel within this research as anyone who has travelled abroad. 

To analyse the duty-free data we included all countries' percentage (18.11%) who disagreed that they shop at duty-free when travelling. We’ve then calculated this as a percentage of the total passengers that pass through the busiest airports by total passenger traffic and the busiest airports specifically by international passenger traffic to get a figure for passengers who don’t shop duty-free at these airports. We’ve then taken the mean average spend across all items in the survey and calculated the amount each airport is missing on sales at duty-free.

Survey data correct as of December 2022. Duty-free analysis correct as of January 2023.