RIC ranked top airport nationally for ease of catching connecting flights

Richmond International Airport is earning national attention after a finance website rated it as the best airport in the United States for making a connecting flight.

RIC earned top marks among 50 of the busiest airports in the nation for its convenient distance between gates and relatively short distance between the two ends of its largest terminal.

The FinanceBuzz.com study found that the longest walk between any two gates at the airport is just eight minutes and the walk from the security checkpoint to the gate located farthest from it is only four minutes. The average time it takes someone to walk end to end in the longest terminal at RIC also is just four minutes, the study found.

“It takes just two minutes to walk from one side of an average-sized terminal at Richmond International Airport to the other side, and only four minutes to do the same in the airport’s largest terminal, both of which are among the shortest walks of those types in the country,” FinanceBuzz.com wrote.

RIC earned a score of 23.5 out of a possible 25 points in the study. The next-best airport for catching connecting flights was Tampa International Airport in Florida, which earned a score of 22.8.

The worst airport in the nation for connecting flights: Denver International, which scored only four points in the survey. The longest walk between any two gates at that airport: 34 minutes.

The website ranked Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport the second-worst airport for connecting flights and found that the longest walk between any two gates there is a whopping 49 minutes, second only to Los Angeles International Airport.

Salt Lake City International Airport in Utah was ranked third among the worst airports for connecting flights.