London Heathrow Airport maintained its position because the busiest international airport on the earth, with around 66,000 possible international connections between incoming and outgoing flights over a six-hour period on its busiest day in 2018.
The results are based on the Megahubs International Index 2018 report from air travel analytics company OAG, which is decided by comparing the variety of scheduled connections to and from international flights with the variety of destinations served from the world’s 200 largest airports.
Heathrow Airport was followed by second-place Chicago O’Hare, third-placed Frankfurt Airport, fourth-placed Amsterdam Schiphol and fifth-placed Toronto Pearson.
While no airports within the Asia-Pacific region made the highest five, a complete of six made the highest twenty. Four of them are in Southeast Asia – Singapore Changi (eighth), Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International (tenth), Kuala Lumpur International (twelfth) and Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (14th), and the remaining two are Hong Kong International ( 13.) and Seoul Incheon (15.).
“Strong demand for international air travel makes Asia-Pacific a key region for connecting flights, and the decisive factor is the continued year-round growth in outbound Chinese travel,” said Mayur Patel, JAPAC regional sales director at OAG.
“Asian dominance is clear, but we are likely to see some interesting moves in the new Beijing [Daxing] opens the airport. As China drives the growth of air travel, we expect hub connections to Hong Kong, which are currently experiencing unprecedented growth driven by mainline operators (Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon), will undoubtedly evolve further.”
Other notable airports within the Asia-Pacific region include Tokyo Haneda (twenty first), Shanghai Pudong (twenty fourth), Indira Gandhi International in Delhi (twenty fifth) and Sydney Airport (twenty ninth).
| Rank | Airport | Country | Connectivity Index | Dominant carrier | Share of flights within the Hub (%) |
| 1 | London-Heathrow (LHR) | United Kingdom | 333 | British Airways | 52 |
| 2 | Chicago O’Hare (ORD) | USA | 306 | United Airlines | 48 |
| 3 | Frankfurt Airport (FRA) | Germany | 302 | Lufthansa | 63 |
| 4 | Amsterdam-Schiphol (AMS) | Netherlands | 286 | KLM | 51 |
| 5 | Toronto Pearson (YYZ) | Canada | 271 | Aviation Canada | 60 |
| 6 | Los Angeles International (LAX) | USA | 257 | American airlines | 21 |
| 7 | Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson (ATL) | USA | 256 | Delta Airlines | 79 |
| 8 | Singapore Changi (SIN) | Singapore | 253 | Singapore Airlines | 23 |
| 9 | Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) | France | 250 | Air France | 51 |
| 10 | Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta (CGK) | Indonesia | 249 | Garuda indonesia | 28 |
| 11 | Munich Airport (MUC) | Germany | 237 | Lufthansa | 59 |
| 12 | Kuala Lumpur International (KUL) | Malaysia | 233 | Air Asia | thirty |
| 13 | Hong Kong International (HKG) | Hong Kong (SAR), China | 230 | CathayPacific | 26 |
| 14 | Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (BKK) | Thailand | 230 | Thai Airlines | 21 |
| 15 | Seoul Incheon (ICN) | South Korea | 216 | Korean air | 23 |
| 16 | New York John F. Kennedy (JFK) | USA | 207 | Delta Airlines | 34 |
| 17 | Istanbul Ataturk (IST) | Turkey | 205 | Turkish Airlines | 80 |
| 18 | Dubai International (DXB) | United Arab Emirates | 194 | Emirates | 45 |
| 19 | Miami International (MIA) | USA | 192 | American airlines | 75 |
| 20 | Mexico City International (MEX) | Mexico | 181 | Aeromexik | 46 |
The OAG rankings paint a noticeably different picture in comparison with the world’s busiest airports as determined by the International Airports Council, which consider total annual passenger traffic.
Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport stays the world’s busiest, with nearly 104 million passengers in 2017, followed by Beijing Capital Airport and Dubai International Airport.
According to the OAG’s Punctuality League published earlier this 12 months, eight of the world’s 10 busiest international routes go through the Asia-Pacific region. As previously reported Business travelerKuala Lumpur-Singapore ranked first ahead of Hong Kong-Taipei from March 2017 to February 2018.
Source : Business traveler
