Sky Harbor holds No. 3 spot in airport rankings

State of play: The Phoenix airport ranks only behind Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport and Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in its category.

• Mega airports are defined as those with at least 33 million passengers annually.

Zoom in: In order of importance, the rankings were based on:

• Ease of travel
• Level of trust
• Terminal facilities
• Airport staff
• Departure to airport experience
• Food, beverage and retail
• Arrival from airport experience

The study used answers from 30,439 surveys completed by residents of the U.S. and Canada.

Between the lines: Mike Taylor, practice lead for the airport study, told Axios that Sky Harbor was in the top five for most categories, and its highest ranking was for airport staff, which includes mostly TSA employees and food and beverage wait staff.

• Survey respondents also viewed Sky Harbor as spacious and relatively calm, though slightly boring compared to the average mega airport, he said.

By the numbers: Sky Harbor counted more than 52 million passengers in 2024, up from nearly 49 million the year before, per the City of Phoenix Aviation Department.

• The airport saw nearly 30.6 million passengers through July, a slight decrease from last year.