Heathrow Loses Best Connected Crown to US Rivals

Heathrow is no longer the most connected airport in the world, as it was before the epidemic.

The London hub, which placed a capacity restriction this summer owing to a lack of workers, has fallen to number 22 in the global rankings of the airline industry’s mega-hubs.

Chicago O’Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson are the top three US airports for having the most international connections, each with 66 foreign destinations.

Additionally, Mexico City Juarez International Airport, the top-ranked non-US mega hub in a top 50 list compiled by the global aviation data firm OAG, has surpassed Heathrow.

The latest data on how current travel delays are impacting global connectivity reveals that while Heathrow maintained its top spot among European hubs, it fell in the worldwide rankings.

The OAG report said: “While Heathrow has maintained almost the same number of destinations served as it had in 2019, the number of possible connections on the busiest day has fallen by 40% as a result of schedule reductions, which particularly affected high-frequency short-haul routes.”

Frankfurt Airport and Paris Charles de Gaulle had comparable declines, dropping from the top 10 to places 27 and 30, respectively.

The Indira Gandhi airport in Delhi, followed by Tokyo Haneda and Sydney, is the region’s most linked mega-hub, with Hong Kong dropping out of the top 50.

Singapore Changi airport fell to 12th position in the Asia Pacific airport rankings, moving Mumbai Airport up to sixth.

OAG uses an index of the total number of potential international flight connections between inbound and outgoing services within a specific time window to determine an airport’s connectivity.

OAG chief analyst John Grant said: “The global market has yet to fully recover post-pandemic.

“While the US currently dominates due to its strong domestic market, we could see Europe and other global hubs catch up in the next 12 months as the industry works towards a full recovery.”