Long-haul passenger flights account for 4% of the world's service in a mid-June week. Defined in
this video as any non-stop or same-plane-stopping service covering 3,000 miles (4,828 km) or more,
370 airports have long-haul operations. 82 airports in both Europe and Asia have such
services, and they’re joined by 64 in North America (including Mexico),, 49 in Africa,
30 in South America, 28 in the Caribbean, 15 in the Middle East, 14 in Oceania,
and six in Central America. So which particular airports offer the most long-haul flights? What
would your guess be - before watching this video? Let’s find out the answers!
The figure of 370 includes airports with just a weekly operation,
of which there are numerous. Among our favorites are:
Djibouti (which sees a weekly Air France service to Paris),
Lamezia Terme (a weekly Air Transat to Toronto),
Tenerife North (a weekly ‘Plus Ultra’ flight to Caracas)
and Whitehorse (with a weekly Condor flight to Frankfurt).
While not surprising, the chart displayed here shows that London
Heathrow is the world's leading long-haul airport by departing flights. The airport
is also first by seats for sale and available seat kilometers.
With 1,737 weekly departures, the UK airport sees about one in every
16 long-haul flights anywhere globally. And it provides about a third of Europe's total.
In our analyzed seven days, Heathrow has non-stop and same-plane-stopping flights
to 100 long-haul destinations. These now include Cincinnati, which British Airways inaugurated on
June 5th. Indeed, the city is just one of 37 destinations served in North America.
So How has the top 30 changed over time?
Comparing this mid-June 2023 week with a comparable week in June 2019 tells us
that Boston, Kuala Lumpur, Lisbon, Montreal, Atlanta, and Tokyo Haneda
have all been added as airports with a large number of long-haul flights.
In contrast, Abu Dhabi, London Gatwick, Miami, Moscow Sheremetyevo, Shanghai Pudong,
and Beijing Capital have been pushed out, at least temporarily.
While China's recovery continues, Turkish Airlines' boost to services is
indicative of carriers' redevelopment following the reopening of borders.
Some 19 of the 24 airports that remain in the top 30 have fewer long-haul flights than
they did before. Not surprisingly, Hong Kong is the least recovered,
with services down by more than half (56% to be precise).
Tokyo Narita is similarly impacted (down 46%). This is partly because of the rise of Haneda.
Just five airports have grown: Istanbul Airport (up 20%), Washington Dulles (+8%),
Heathrow (+3%), Doha (+2%), and Newark (+1%). Newark’s long-haul network now includes Malaga,
which United launched on May 31st using the 757-200ER.
In the near future, will you be flying from any of the 30 airports mentioned here? If so,
let us know which ones by commenting below!