Summary

• While Istanbul Airport (IST) had the most diverse destination network, four US airports made it onto the list.
• These include Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), Atlanta Hartsfield–Jackson International Airport (ATL) and Denver International Airport (DEN).
• Other airports were located in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Aviation analytics firm Cirium has released its latest report on the most connected Airports which lists the 20 most important airports in terms of the destinations served.

The list included four U.S. airports offering over 200 direct flights to various domestic and international destinations.

Istanbul Airport (IST) is the leading

Istanbul Airport (IST) was the best connected airport in the first half of 2024, serving 309 destinations around the world.

This was largely due to Turkish Airlines developing a very sophisticated hub strategy, where the airline used IST’s geographical location to target travelers across multiple continents.

Data from Cirium showed that Turkish Airlines was responsible for 3,825 weekly flights, or 77.7%, of the total 4,918 departures from the airport in August.

The second airport was Germany’s most important hub, Frankfurt Airport (FRA). As one of the most important hubs for Lufthansa – the group and the airline – it offered 296 unique destinations in the first half of the year.

For comparison, Munich Airport (MUC), which ranks 15th, had 217 destinations on its departure list in the first six months of 2024.

The first US airport on the list was Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) with 270 destinations.

ORD shared fifth place with Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) and was able to serve 270 destinations in the first half of the year.

Following the top five were Dubai International Airport (DXB, 269 destinations) and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), which served 261 destinations during this period.

Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) was ahead of Atlanta Hartsfield–Jackson International Airport (ATL), which has been the world’s busiest airport for decades with 243 and 237 destinations respectively.

Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO) and Denver International Airport (DEN) then completed the top ten – 11th, if not fifth, with DEN serving 229 different destinations during this period.

Chinese and European airports round off the list

After DEN, the last US airport on the list, London Heathrow Airport (LHR) ranked 12th with 221 destinations, while Jeddah King Abdulaziz International Airport (JED) was just behind London’s main airport with 219 destinations.

One place behind JED is Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD), which is on a par with London Gatwick Airport (LGW) at 218th place.

After the aforementioned MUC, another Spanish airport, Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN), fell below the 210 mark with 209 destinations, followed by Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) with 206.

The last two airports on the list, Chengdu Tianfu International Airport (TFU) and Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (CAN), were also tied with 202 destinations.