Australia’s airports ranked: From the worst to the best, here’s my verdict

There was a big kerfuffle recently when Melbourne Airport announced a change to its pick-up and drop-off structure, effectively ending the practice of drivers dropping their passengers at the terminal doors.

Now, they’ll have to wave goodbye from a central transport hub, connected to terminals 1, 2 and 3 via a footbridge.

Is this a disaster? Is it the worst thing in the world? Surely not, when you consider the traffic congestion that’s so frequent at Melbourne Airport, and the fact the footbridge isn’t all that long.

Still, it sparked big reactions, because people tend to care a lot about airports, particularly the airports in their own cities. These facilities are a source of frequent frustration and occasional pride, something to complain about while also taunting interstate friends whose airports are even worse.

But which city really does have the best airport in Australia? How does Melbourne Airport, rated our nation’s best at the World Airport Awards, truly rank against its interstate competitors? These are my humble and completely non-biased opinions of worst to best.

Pros It’s always nice (OK, it’s usually nice) when an airport feels like it properly represents the city it services, and you can say that for Darwin. There’s an easy-breezy feel here, with plenty of Indigenous art on the walls and a good range of local souvenirs for panic buying. It’s also only 15 minutes from the city centre.

Cons Check-in counters at Darwin don’t open until 90 minutes, or at best two hours, before your flight, and there’s only one cafe on the land side, which means if you show up early you’re in for a boring wait with very few facilities.

Pros Like Darwin, Hobart is a modest airport, though it serves almost twice as many passengers annually, and has had to play catch-up to the tourism boom in the Apple Isle. Still, this facility is easy to reach from the city, easy to navigate, and recent security screening upgrades have smoothed things further.

Cons There’s a $200 million terminal upgrade taking place right now, due to finish next year, and it will certainly be welcome because Hobart Airport feels very cramped, with few places to sit and little to do in the departures area.

Pros Perth will, eventually, be great, once all the planned works are completed. For now, super-speedy train access from the city is a huge plus (provided you’re flying domestic), automated customs gates have helped ease congestion and the terminals themselves are simple to navigate.

Cons Clearly the main drama in Perth is the separation of terminals 1 and 2 from terminals 3 and 4 – i