10 best ‘mega airports’ in North America 2025

Last month, J.D. Power released its annual North American Airport Satisfaction Study for 2025.

Mega airports are defined as those with 33 million or more passengers per year. The study measured overall passenger satisfaction by examining their experiences across seven core dimensions in order of importance:

1. Ease of travel through airport
2. Level of trust with airport
3. Terminal facilities
4. Airport staff
5. Departure/to airport experience
6. Food, beverage and retail
7. Arrival/from airport experience

The 2025 study is based on 30,439 completed surveys from U.S. or Canadian residents who traveled through at least one U.S. or Canadian airport and covers both departure and arrival experiences (including connecting airports) during the past 30 days. The study was conducted from July 2024 through July 2025.

“While the annual growth rate in passenger volume seems to be leveling off, we’re still seeing record numbers of travelers pass through the nation’s airports, and, for the most part, they are enjoying the experience,” Michael Taylor, practice lead for the airport study at J.D. Power, stated in a press release.

Just like 2024, the top three airports remain the same, which isn’t surprising, Taylor tells CNBC Make It.

“The three airports that won performed solidly in what I call blocking and tackling. It’s about getting to the airport, is the bathroom clean? Is the TSA quick? That kind of thing and then the most important part is the food, beverage and retail which is the biggest swing factor in the study usually,” he says.

With the government shutdown still ongoing, air travel is being affected but hasn’t changed the satisfaction rankings of the mega airports in this year’s report yet, Taylor says.

His biggest piece of advice during this time is that travelers should be prepared to not go anywhere.

“Prepare not to be in the air and seeing more delays,” he said. “People will react negatively to that, which will affect satisfaction, but it’s generally fairly episodic. It doesn’t last forever and we haven’t seen a huge impact.”

The Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport ranked No. 1 on the list, scoring 660 out of 1,000.

The airport is ideally located between Minnesota’s two major cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul.

“From start to finish, Minneapolis has a really good relationship with its state’s Department of Transportation because signage is very critical to have a good airport experience,” Taylor says.

“They have actual highway signs that tell you which terminal you’re going to. That’s kind of unusual in the United States. They do a really good job of bringing Minnesota into the airport itself.

The airport served more than 37 million travelers in 2024, making it the 18th busiest in North America in terms of the number of passengers served annually, according to MSP’s website.

In 2023, the airport ranked as the world’s most punctual, according to a report from the travel data analytics firm Cirium.

1. Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport
2. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport
3. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
4. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
5. Harry Reid International Airport
6. John F. Kennedy International Airport
7. Orlando International Airport
8. Miami International Airport
9. San Francisco International Airport
10. Boston Logan International Airport

The Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport took the No. 2 spot this year with a score of 649 out of 1,000.

“Detroit is a solid airport. They’ve improved their food, commercial, and retail, and brought more of Detroit into the airport,” Taylor says. “They have a simple setup, so it gives a feeling of space, and people get to spread out. They’re less stressed, and TSA does an awesome job, and people get through very quickly.”