Asia’s Most Connected Airports

In aviation like in life connections matter. And so the most connected Airports in Asia tend to be the most popular and the most important airports. These are hubs, actually Megahubs which connect Asia to its neighbors and the world.

According to OAG’s Annual Megahubs International Index 2018 London Heathrow is the most connected airport in the world while  SIngapore’s Changi offers the most international connections in Asia. The Connectivity Index is calculated as the ratio of all possible scheduled international connections that could be made by passengers in a six-hour window to the number of destinations served by the airport. At Heathrow, passengers could have made any one of a possible 66,000 connections like this on the busiest day for aviation. 

Airports always try to attract new routes
Asian airports ted to serve large population basis so they offer a mix of domestic, regional and long haul destinations.

It’s interesting to see which Asian airports offer the most international connections. More connections mean more flight possibilities and more ways to come and go to more destinations.

China has three airports in the top 50, along with Hong Kong (SAR). While Beijing Capital Airport is the largest airport in the world for scheduled capacity, it ranks 32nd behind Shanghai Pudong Airport and Guangzhou Airport in the Connectivity Index as it has a fraction of the possible international connections. This shows the sheer size of China’s domestic market.

New for the index in 2018 is the name of the dominant airline at each airport alongside the share of flights operated by that airline. Unsurprisingly for hub airports, 7 of the top 10 Megahubs have a single dominant carrier which operates half or more of all airline operations. Los Angeles, Singapore and Jakarta, however, each have a dominant carrier which operates just 20-30% of flights, demonstrating that successful hub airports need not be dependent on a single hub-focused airline. 

Flying in an out of the most connected airports is often a love/hate relationship for travelers. They love the ability of flying to more destinations but hate the crowds. Still it is a huge benefit to live near the best connected airports.

Published by Editorial Team

The Asia Rising Editorial Team is made up of a multinational team of writers, content experts and journalists from around the world operating out of our Bureaus in New York, Bangkok, Toronto and while on assignment across Asia.