If there’s one constant in travel, it’s finding Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) at or near the top of lists of worst U.S. airports for summer travel. And summer 2026 is no exception.
Summer Travelers Beware
Forbes Advisor recently compared the nation’s 100 busiest airports, rating each based on 12 metrics across four key categories: delays, cancellations, infrastructure investment, and cost during the summer travel season.
Predictably, EWR came out on top (or bottom, depending on your perspective), scoring just 84.3 on a 100-point scale. Factors contributing to Newark’s poor showing included the highest flight cancellation percentage of the airports studied; one of the highest rates of flight delays caused by airport operations; and a low (66 percent) on-time arrival rate.
Rounding out Forbes’ list of worst airlines for summer travel in 2026 were Miami International Airport, Orlando International Airport (which had the worst on-time flight arrival percentage among the 100 busiest U.S. airports), Palm Beach International Airport (which will become President Donald J. Trump International Airport on July 9) and Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
Hawaii and Portland Earn High Marks
Good news for Hawaii-bound travelers, however: three of the five best airports for summer travel, as ranked by Forbes Advisor, are in the Aloha State.
In fact, Hawaii claimed the top three spots in the report, with the best-ranked Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole. followed by Lihue Airport on the Big Island and Kahului Airport in Kona. Spokane International Airport in Washington and Boise Airport in Idaho also finished in the top five on the Forbes list.
Traveling internationally this summer? You’re more likely to have a positive experience at Panama City’s Tocumen International Airport, Fortaleza Pinto Martins Airport in Brazil and Cape Town Airport (CPT) in South Africa. That’s according to flight data company AirHelp, which ranked 279 airports across 76 countries and ranked these three highest.
AirHelp’s lowest-scoring international airports were Tunis Carthage Airport in Tunisia, Lahore Allama Iqbal Airport in Pakistan and Ho Chi Minh Airport in Vietnam.
AirHelp crowned Portland International Airport the best in the U.S., followed by Salt Lake City International Airport and Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport.
The AirHelp rankings deemed Washington Reagan International Airport the U.S.’s worst airport; the air gateway to the nation’s capital placed 260th out of the 279 airports ranked, just barely better than Newark at number 255. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, another poor performed in the AirHelp ratings, came in 252nd place.
