Report · Updated 12 October 2026

Smoking at airports 2026: where travelers can still smoke

A worldwide look at airport smoking rules, built from our database of 719 airports in 142 countries and the 1,971 designated smoking areas recorded at them. Free to quote and to reuse with a link to this page.

Download the data (CSV, totals by country) · CC BY 4.0 · Full list of airports with smoking after security

Key findings

• Smoking after security is a regional question. 65% of airports in Asia and 58% in Europe have a designated area past the checkpoint, against 6% in North America.
• 19of 30 of the world's busiest airports let passengers smoke after security. The exceptions are Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Chicago, Amsterdam, New York, Bangkok, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Orlando and Charlotte.
• North America is almost entirely smoke-free airside: only 9 of the 154 airports we cover there have a smoking area after security. Everywhere else, smokers step outside before security.
• Most smoking areas are outdoors. 49% of the areas recorded are outdoor areas or terraces, 32% enclosed smoking rooms and 9% smoking lounges.
• Vaping is treated like smoking. Of the 360 airports with a known vaping rule, 55% do not allow it and 44% allow it only in the designated smoking areas. Only 2 allow it more widely.
• Leaving to smoke is often possible, but costs a second security check. At 74% of the 316 airports where we know the rule, departing passengers may exit and come back through security.

The busiest airports

Thirty of the world's busiest passenger airports, and whether you can smoke once you are through security.

By region

Most smoker-friendly countries

Countries with at least four airports in our database, ranked by the share of those airports with smoking after security.

At the other end, none of the airports we cover in Norway (4) has a smoking area after security.

Use the data

How the figures are made