London Heathrow Airport (LHR) has remained the world’s most internationally connected airport this year, a new report said. Dominant carrier British Airways operates 50 percent of the flights at the hub. Moreover, the airport facilitates 61,356 connections to 227 destinations, retaining its top spot from last year’s ranking.
Rising two spots was Kuala Lumpur, which ranked 2nd this year, compared to 4th last year. It was also the most connected airport in Asia Pacific, the Megahubs 2024 report by aviation data provider OAG said.
Dominant carrier Air Asia has a 35 percent share among flights at the airport, which facilitates 33,411 connections to 137 destinations.
Other airport among the top five include Tokyo Haneda, Amsterdam Schiphol and Incheon Seoul at third, fourth and fifth places, respectively.
Dubai International Airport ranks 16th, unchanged from last year’s ranking. The airport facilitates 45,084 connections to 279 destinations. The airport serves as a hub for Emirates airline, which operates 38 percent of the flights at the airport.
What are megahub airports?
Consider megahubs as airports at the “top of the food chain”, OAG says.
These airports are usually host to large legacy airlines with extensive networks of short and long-haul flights. Usually, the home airlines are also part of larger alliances.
“For example United Airlines, based at Chicago O’Hare, is part of Star Alliance, and British Airways, based at London Heathrow, is with the OneWorld Alliance,” OAG says.
Examples of megahub airports include London Heathrow, Kuala Lumpur, Chicago O’Hare, Istanbul and Dubai.
Megahub airports operate at near maximum capacity and connect passengers throughout the day.
How do the megahub rankings work?
The report ranks the connectivity of the world’s leading international airport hubs – globally and regionally – as well as gateways into domestic markets and provides a platform for comparison. The rankings are generated by comparing the number of scheduled connections to and from international flights with the number of destinations served from the airport.
Low-cost carrier megahubs
Among low-cost carrier megahubs, Kuala Lumpur ranked first with 14,583 connections to 137 destinations. Dominant carrier Air Asia has a 35 percent share of flights at the airport. Manila ranks second with 8,728 connections to 97 destinations.
Incheon Seoul, Singapore and Delhi rank third, fourth and fifth, respectively.
“Middle East airports DXB and RUH both feature in the rankings. Dubai (DXB) retains its seventh place position again this year and is the highest-ranked airport outside of Asia in the top 25 low-cost megahubs. DXB offers the highest number of destinations in the table; 279 in the last year (Sep 2023 to Aug 2024), although not all of these are operated by LCCs,” the report said. Riyadh ranks 14th in the list.
Megahubs by region
When it comes to Middle East and Africa megahubs, Dubai ranks first, followed by Doha, Johannesburg, Riyadh and Addis Ababa.
Abu Dhabi, Cairo, Jeddah, Bahrain and Kuwait make up the top 10.
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