Developing a Multi-Country Itinerary? Check here first. Just released by OAG, recognized as the authoritative source or airline and airport data, the OAG Megahubs Index 2019 reveals the 50 most internationally connected airports in the world and the 25 most domestically connected airports in the U.S. (Above: London Heathrow, the most connected airport in the world.) While the international list points to London Heathrow as the most connected and Frankfort, Germany as the top two, Chicago O’Hare comes in at No. 3, with other major U.S. airports coming in at Numbers 8, 13, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 31, 37 and 44.
The index is generated by comparing the number of scheduled connections to and from international flights with the number of destinations served from the airport. OAG’s Megahubs Index gathers its schedules database to dynamically build connections through a dedicated analytics platform, Connections Analyzer, and is further enhanced by OAG’s MCT Exception Table.
The index considers all connections which are feasible between scheduled flights adhering to the airports’ own Minimum Connect Times, which can be made within a six-hour window of a flight arrival and where at least one is an international flight. At Heathrow there are over 65,000 possible connections on the busiest day for aviation and while the Megahubs Index score for Heathrow is slightly below where it was a year ago, the airport continues to perform well ahead of the competition.
The index considers all connections which are feasible between scheduled flights adhering to the airports’ own Minimum Connect Times, which can be made within a six-hour window of a flight arrival and where at least one is an international flight. At Heathrow there are over 65,000 possible connections on the busiest day for aviation and while the Megahubs Index score for the airport is slightly below where it was a year ago, Heathrow continues to perform well ahead of the competition.
While there are many ways to rank the top airports in the world, the OAG Megahubs Index reflects both the scale of the airport operation in terms of destinations served and the number of inbound and outbound flights, as well as the fundamental scheduling which makes some airports such successful hubs. In some instances, schedule co-ordination, which ensures waves of inbound flights are timed to provide the maximum connectivity to outbound flights is key, while for other Megahubs, the sheer scale of the domestic operation and how that connects to international air services is what drives international connectivity. The above and other factors are scored, and OAG comes up with its ranking.
A Further Note on Methodology: For its list, OAG has calculated the total number of all possible connections between inbound and outbound flights within a six-hour window, where either the inbound, outbound, or both flights are international, at the largest 200 airports in the world (based on total scheduled seats in July 2019) and at the largest 200 international airports (based on total international scheduled seats in July 2019) on the busiest day for global aviation over the 12 months to July 2019.
—For the purposes of this analysis, in addition to the in-built business rules within OAG Connections Analyzer, the following customizable criteria were chosen for all operating flights:
—Single international* connections only to/from the chosen airports;
—Maximum circuity of 150;
—Minimum Connection Time (MCT) varies by individual airport. OAG holds the MCT information for every commercial airport in operation; and
For additional information, visit: https://www.oag.com/oag-megahubs-2019?submissionGuid=04d02353-e993-4bcb-abc3-7eaa8b7e2a54
