---
title: "Why airport awards compare airports by size — OnlyPlanes"
description: "Airports with different passenger volumes face different challenges, making comparisons difficult unless their scale is taken into account."
canonical_url: "https://onlyplanes.ru/en/blog/airport-ranking-size-categories"
last_updated: 2026-10-25
locale: en
meta:
  keywords: "Why airport awards compare airports by size, Airports"
  "og:description": "Airports with different passenger volumes face different challenges, making comparisons difficult unless their scale is taken into account."
  "og:image": "https://onlyplanes.ru/images/aviation/scenes/airport.webp"
  "og:image:alt": "Why airport awards compare airports by size"
  "og:title": "Why airport awards compare airports by size"
  "twitter:description": "Airports with different passenger volumes face different challenges, making comparisons difficult unless their scale is taken into account."
  "twitter:image": "https://onlyplanes.ru/images/aviation/scenes/airport.webp"
  "twitter:title": "Why airport awards compare airports by size"
---

> Index of every page on this site: [llms.txt](https://onlyplanes.ru/llms.txt)

Airports

# Why airport awards compare airports by sizeWhy airport awards compare airports by size

Airports with different passenger volumes face different challenges, making comparisons difficult unless their scale is taken into account.

![Why airport awards compare airports by size](https://onlyplanes.ru/images/aviation/scenes/airport.webp)

Context

## Why size categories matter

A medium-sized airport may offer quick security checks and short walking distances. A major hub provides more destinations and services, but has to manage heavier passenger flows and longer walks. That is why industry awards often group airports by passenger numbers.

In practice

## What an award tells you

Check the award year, passenger-volume category and voting criteria. ‘Best in its category’ does not mean ‘most convenient for every journey’. For your own trip, ground transport, the departure terminal, time spent at security and border control, and your options during a delay matter more.

Summary

## The takeaway

Grouping airports by size makes comparisons fairer, but your particular journey remains the best guide.

Enjoyed this article?

## Share

[Telegram](https://t.me/share/url?url=https%3A%2F%2Fonlyplanes.ru%2Fen%2Fblog%2Fairport-ranking-size-categories&text=Why%20airport%20awards%20compare%20airports%20by%20size)

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"Why airport awards compare airports by size","description":"Airports with different passenger volumes face different challenges, making comparisons difficult unless their scale is taken into account.","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://onlyplanes.ru/images/aviation/scenes/airport.webp","width":1920,"height":1280},"datePublished":"2026-10-03","dateModified":"2026-10-25","inLanguage":"en-GB","articleSection":"Airports","isAccessibleForFree":true,"mainEntityOfPage":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en/blog/airport-ranking-size-categories","author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"OnlyPlanes","url":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en/about"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"OnlyPlanes","url":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://onlyplanes.ru/search-logo.png","width":512,"height":512}},"about":[{"@type":"Thing","name":"Why size categories matter"},{"@type":"Thing","name":"What an award tells you"}]}
```

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en#website","@type":"WebSite","description":"News, stories and rare images from the world of aviation","inLanguage":"en-GB","name":"OnlyPlanes","url":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en","publisher":{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en#identity"},"translationOfWork":{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en#website"}},{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en/blog/airport-ranking-size-categories#webpage","@type":"WebPage","description":"Airports with different passenger volumes face different challenges, making comparisons difficult unless their scale is taken into account.","name":"Why airport awards compare airports by size","url":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en/blog/airport-ranking-size-categories","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en#website"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://onlyplanes.ru/en/blog/airport-ranking-size-categories"]}],"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en#logo"}},{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en#identity","@type":"Organization","name":"OnlyPlanes","url":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en","logo":{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en#logo"},"sameAs":["https://t.me/legkoenebo"]},{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en#logo","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"OnlyPlanes","contentUrl":"https://onlyplanes.ru/search-logo.png","inLanguage":"en-GB","url":"https://onlyplanes.ru/search-logo.png"}]}
```

## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](https://onlyplanes.ru/sitemap.md) for all pages.