A Network Map of the World’s Air Traffic Connections

View the high resolution version of today’s graphic by clicking here.

In 2017, airlines moved over four billion passengers, a number that continues to grow each year.

As more and more people around the world can afford to scratch their travel itch, new connections and airports will be created to meet that demand. Remarkably, the world’s air transport network doubles in size every 15 years, and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) estimates that it will do so again by the year 2030.

Today’s data visualization – created by researcher, Martin Grandjean – is a dramatic look at over 3,200 air traffic hubs that connect our world’s population centers. The unique, force-directed layout allows us to see relationships beyond geographical location.

As the GIF above reveals, Europe remains an important linchpin in international travel, and cities on North America’s West Coast – such as Vancouver and San Francisco – swing in response to Asia’s gravitational pull.

The World’s Most Connected Airports

While all airports are effective at moving passengers from point A to B, particular locations play a crucial role in the global network. To help put this connectivity between airports into perspective, OAG created the Megahubs International Index.

Below are the top 50 internationally connected airports:

Rank	Airport	Airport Name	Country	Connectivity Index
1	LHR	Heathrow	United Kingdom	379
2	FRA	Frankfurt	Germany	307
3	AMS	Amsterdam Schiphol	Netherlands	299
4	ORD	O’Hare	United States	295
5	YYZ	Toronto Pearson	Canada	271
6	SIN	Singapore Changi	Singapore	257
7	CGK	Soekarno–Hatta	Indonesia	256
8	ATL	Hartsfield–Jackson	United States	256
9	KUL	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	242
10	CDG	Charles de Gaulle	France	242
11	LAX	Los Angeles	United States	235
12	HKG	Hong Kong	Hong Kong	233
13	BKK	Suvarnabhumi	Thailand	226
14	MUC	Munich	Germany	221
15	IST	Istanbul Atatürk	Turkey	219
16	MIA	Miami	United States	204
17	ICN	Incheon	South Korea	196
18	JFK	John F. Kennedy	United States	195
19	IAH	George Bush	United States	184
20	DXB	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	183
21	MEX	Mexico City	Mexico	176
22	EWR	Newark Liberty	United States	170
23	PVG	Shanghai Pudong	China	167
24	SYD	Sydney	Australia	167
25	DEL	Indira Gandhi	India	166
26	YVR	Vancouver	Canada	165
27	DFW	Dallas/Fort Worth	United States	164
28	HND	Haneda	Japan	163
29	SFO	San Francisco	United States	153
30	FCO	Rome Fiumicino	Italy	145
31	PEK	Beijing Capital	China	142
32	CAN	Guangzhou Baiyun	China	141
33	BOM	Chhatrapati Shivaji	India	140
34	MAD	Madrid–Barajas	Spain	138
35	NCE	Nice Côte d’Azur	France	133
36	JNB	O. R. Tambo	South Africa	133
37	NRT	Narita	Japan	132
38	MNL	Ninoy Aquino	Philippines	131
39	SEA	Seattle–Tacoma	United States	130
40	BOS	Logan	United States	128
41	BOG	El Dorado	Colombia	127
42	GRU	São Paulo–Guarulhos	Brazil	120
43	YUL	Montréal–Trudeau	Canada	118
44	ZRH	Zurich	Switzerland	115
45	SVO	Sheremetyevo	Russian Fed.	114
46	SJU	Luis Muñoz Marín	Puerto Rico	114
47	PTY	Tocumen	Panama	108
48	VIE	Vienna	Austria	107
49	MCO	Orlando	United States	107
50	AKL	Auckland	New Zealand	106

The heavyweight airport leading the world in international connectivity is London Heathrow. This busy air traffic hub recently had a mind-blowing 72,000 possible international connections within a 6-hour window of arriving and departing flights. Heathrow moved over 78 million passengers and 1.70 million metric tonnes of cargo in 2017.

According to OAG, Singapore Changi and El Dorado International Airport in Colombia were the most connected airports in Asia–Pacific and South America, respectively. O. R. Tambo International Airport near Johannesburg was the sole African airport to crack the top 50.

America’s Most Connected Airports

Below are the top 25 most connected airports in the United States:

Rank	Airport	Airport Name	City	Connectivity Index
1	ORD	O’Hare	Chicago	455
2	ATL	Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta	Atlanta	390
3	CLT	Charlotte Douglas	Charlotte	238
4	DFW	Dallas/Fort Worth	Dallas	207
5	DEN	Denver	Denver	186
6	DTW	Detroit Metro. Wayne County	Detroit	139
7	MSP	Minneapolis–Saint Paul	Minneapolis–St. Paul	126
8	LAX	Los Angeles	Los Angeles	114
9	HNL	Daniel K. Inouye	Honolulu	104
10	PHX	Phoenix Sky Harbor	Phoenix	103
11	IAH	George Bush	Houston	102
12	BOS	Boston Logan	Boston	95
13	SEA	Seattle–Tacoma	Seattle	87
14	PHL	Philadelphia	Philadelphia	85
15	SFO	San Francisco	San Francisco	84
16	SLC	Salt Lake City	Salt Lake City	79
17	MDW	Chicago Midway	Chicago	75
18	DCA	Ronald Reagan Washington	Washington	65
19	IAD	Washington Dulles	Washington	57
20	DAL	Dallas Love Field	Dallas	56
21	EWR	Newark Liberty	Newark	54
22	LAS	McCarran	Las Vegas	54
23	BWI	Baltimore–Washington	Baltimore	53
24	LGA	LaGuardia	New York	51
25	STL	St. Louis Lambert	St. Louis	43

While Atlanta Airport, the second most connected hub, has more scheduled domestic capacity, O’Hare’s scheduling offered more connection possibilities for passengers. Both these powerhouse transport nodes show up very clearly on the network map above.

No Fly Zones

There is a grand total of five countries in the world that have no airport and, interestingly, they’re all in Europe. Vatican City and Monaco are simply too small to accommodate an airport.

The remaining three – Andorra, San Marino, and Liechtenstein – rely on neighboring countries and/or helicopter pads for their air travel needs.

A Network Map of the World’s Air Traffic Connections