Chicago O’Hare has been named as the world’s most connected airport, knocking London Heathrow off the top spot after the UK’s busiest airport, which ranked number one in 2019, dropped to 22nd position in the latest Megahubs report released this week by aviation specialist OAG.
The report, last released in 2019, highlights how slower recovery patterns have affected global connectivity.
Rankings for 2022 were generated based on flight data between September 2021 and August 2022 from the top 100 largest airports for capacity as well as the top 100 largest airports for international capacity. This data was then used to calculate the total number of possible flight connections within a six-hour window on 12 August 2022, the busiest day for global aviation in the last year.
While Heathrow retained its first-place ranking among European hubs, its global ranking plummeted in the 2022. According to the report, the airport maintained almost the same number of destinations it served in 2019, but the number of possible connections on the busiest day fell by 40 per cent as a result of a self-imposed passenger cap, which particularly affected high-frequency short-haul routes.
Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and Frankfurt Airport experienced similar drops, falling out of the top 10 to 27th and 30th position, respectively.
US airports dominate the global rankings, occupying 13 of the top 20 spots due to a strong domestic market. After Chicago O’Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport ranked second, followed by Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and Denver International Airport. Los Angeles International and New York J F Kennedy International round out the top seven most connected airports in the world, while Mexico City Juarez International Airport came in at 8th position, up seven spots from 15th position in 2019, and the highest ranked non-US hub.
OAG chief analyst John Grant noted that the global market has yet to fully recover post pandemic, and while the US currently dominates “we could see Europe and other global hubs catch up in the next 12 months as the industry works towards a full recovery”.
Among Europe’s hub airports, Istanbul Airport and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport trail Heathrow in the top 3, followed by airports in Amsterdam, Madrid and Munich. Meanwhile, hubs in Athens, Istanbul’s Sabiha Gocken and Barcelona moved into the top 10, having been ranked lower in 2019.
The most connected hub in Asia Pacific is Indira Gandhi International Airport, followed by Tokyo’s Haneda Airport and Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport. Hong Kong International Airport, previously the second most connected airport in Asia Pacific, dropped out of the global top 50 and is therefore not ranked in the region.