Scotland's best and worst airports, as rated by consumer watchdog Which?

The annual poll by Which?, the former Consumers Association, placed the Highland capital as the UK’s ninth best rated airport, with the overall rankings topped by Liverpool John Lennon.

Inverness was given an 70 per cent customer score based on overall satisfaction and likelihood to recommend, ahead of Glasgow with 62 per cent, Edinburgh with 57 per cent and Aberdeen with 56 per cent.

Other Scottish airports such as Prestwick and Dundee were not included in the poll, conducted in April.

However, the results were rubbished by Edinburgh Airport, which said the study was “not robust” and its own survey, conducted the same month, had shown 90 per cent passenger satisfaction.

Scotland’s busiest airport’s ranking improved by 2 percentage points from 55 per cent last year, while Aberdeen’s was up one point and Glasgow was unchanged. Inverness did not feature last year.

Manchester airport, which is used by many Scots, performed worst, with its terminal 3 at the bottom of rankings for the third year in a row. Passenger complaints included queues and lack of seating. Manchester scored just 37 per cent, while the airport’s terminal 1 was at 40 per cent and its terminal 2 at 51 per cent.

Others at the bottom of the table were Belfast International, Luton, Stansted and Heathrow terminal 4, where British Airways flights are focused.

Top rated behind Liverpool were other smaller airports, led by London City, Norwich, Exeter and Southampton.

Inverness scored four out of five stars for security queues, staff and toilets, and three stars for seating. Glasgow was given four stars for security and bag drop queues, and staff, but only two stars for passport queues and the range and prices in its shops.

Edinburgh received two and three stars in each category. Aberdeen received four stars for security queues, but only one star for baggage reclaim and range in shops.

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But the three larger airports said Which? had surveyed just 0.02 per cent of its passengers in April.

A spokesperson for AGS Airports, which operates Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton, said: “We put our passengers at the heart of everything we do and, we continue to strive to deliver for our passengers and Scotland. To maintain our high levels of service, we continually seek feedback from the millions of passengers who use our airports.”

A spokesman for Edinburgh Airport said: “This report is of no use to passengers as it is based on opinion and perception rather than fact and data. It’s not a robust study from Which? -  a fee-paying organisation aiming to gain more subscribers.”

The airport said it displayed security wait times online and weekly on social media. The spokesperson said: “We think it's important to reliably inform our passengers and 96.1 per cent move through security within 15 minutes.

“We would encourage readers to look closely at the methodology and approach used in this study by Which? and evaluate whether it is focused on them or the organisation itself.”

The airport said its own survey had found 94 per cent to 97 per cent of those polled found it easy to get to/from and around the airport and find information about their flight, and were satisfied with staff service and cleanliness.