Chicago O'Hare is the fifth best connected airport in the world

Summary

Chicago O’Hare Airport ranks 5th in the world in terms of connections and serves 270 destinations.
Istanbul Airport tops the list with 309 destinations, but Dubai, Shanghai and European airports are also included.
Chicago O’Hare has 8 runways and is served by around 50 airlines.

Chicago O’Hare International Airport consistently makes the list of the world’s busiest airports every year. But how does that translate to the number of destinations served by this airport around the world? The latest list from aviation analytics firm Cirium shows that O’Hare is the fifth best-connected airport in the world. Several other U.S. airports, as well as other major global hubs, are also featured in the top 20.

The fifth best airport

Aviation analytics firm Cirium has released its list of the world’s most connected airports for 2024. It includes some of the busiest airports in the world, and Chicago O’Hare (ORD) ranks fifth with 270 destinations served.

A United Airlines Boeing 777 directly above the runway at Chicago O'Hare International Airport.

Photo: Greg K__ca l Shutterstock

The top 20 airports include those from Europe, Asia and the Middle East as well as three other airports from the USA. Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) is in sixth place with 261 connections.

The other two American airports include Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) in 9th place with 237 connections, while Denver International Airport (DEN) narrowly misses a place in the top 10 and is in 11th place with 229 connections.

Other airports on the list

Istanbul Airport (IST) is the world’s most connected airport, with 309 destinations. Of course, this is mainly because it is the main hub for Turkish Airlines, which has a huge global network with more than 270 destinations. Next on the list is Frankfurt Airport (FRA), which served 296 destinations in the first half of the year, followed by Paris Charles de Gaulle with 282 destinations.

Several Turkish Airlines planes on the ground at Istanbul Airport.

Photo: EvrenKalinbacak | Shutterstock

Interestingly, no airport from the United Kingdom is represented in the top 10 list. London Heathrow Airport (LHR) ranks 12th with 221 destinations. London Gatwick ranks 14th with 218 destinations, tied with Madrid. In the first half of 2023, Heathrow was in 8th place.

Dubai International Airport (DXB) ranks sixth with 269 destinations, while Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) ranks eighth with 243 destinations. Overall, of the top 20 airports on the list, ten are in Europe, four each in the US and China, and two in the Middle East.

Chicago O’Hare International Airport

O’Hare is one of Chicago’s two major airports. It has eight runways and is served by about 50 airlines. According to OAG, it is the seventh-busiest airport in the world and the third-busiest in the United States by number of available seats this month, with 4,393,280 seats.

United aircraft at Chicago O'Hare Airport

Photo: EQRoy | Shutterstock

United Airlines is the largest airline with flights from Chicago O’Hare followed by American Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Delta and Southwest. Although the airport often sees some of the largest aircraft, it also has a huge network operated by regional jets. In fact, it is the world’s leading airport for regional jet flights.

With an average of more than 27,000 round-trip flights daily, 40% of the airport’s operations are carried out by regional jets, with American Eagle having the largest presence. James Pearson, route analyst at Simple Flying, has done a detailed analysis of this in the following article.