Istanbul Airport (IST) in Türkiye has been named as the most connected airport in the world, says new research.
According to a survey by aviation data analyst Cirium, IST is followed by Frankfurt Airport (FRA) in Germany and Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) in France as the top three airports in the world for serving the most destinations.
Cirium’s list of the top 20 most connected airports during the first half of 2024 found that Türkiye’s main hub Istanbul served 309 destinations, followed by Frankfurt with 296 routes and Paris CDG with 282.
Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS) airport came in joint fourth with 270 destinations, which tied it with Chicago’s O’Hare (ORD), the top gateway in the United States. The only other European airport in the top 10 was Rome Fiumicino (FCO) with 234 routes.
No airports in the United Kingdom feature in the top 10 as London Heathrow (LHR) dropped from eighth position in 2023 to 12th this year with 221 destinations. This placed it only just ahead of another London airport, Gatwick which served 218 destinations.
On the other hand, Madrid, Munich and Barcelona airports also featured in the list.
Cirium’s research shows that 10 of the top 20 most connected airports were in Europe with four each in China and the US, and two in the Middle East, namely Dubai International (DXB) in the United Arab Emirates and Jeddah (JED) in Saudi Arabia.