London Heathrow drops out of top 10 best-connected airports worldwide

London Heathrow has fallen out of the top 10 of best-connected airports worldwide, according to new data.

A survey by aviation analyst Cirium reveals the UK’s biggest hub is now ranked 12th by the number of destinations served, down from eighth in 2023.

The company has calculated how many airports each hub served between January and June 2024

Istanbul is “most connected airport” worldwide, with 309 destinations on offer from the Turkish hub. Most are on Turkish Airlines, the carrier with the most extensive route network in the world.

Second, third and fourth places are filled by the three main continental hubs: Frankfurt (296 destinations), Paris Charles de Gaulle (282) and Amsterdam (270, equal fourth with Chicago O’Hare, the best-connected American airport).

The only other European airport in the top 10 is Rome Fiumicino, squeezing into 10th place with 234 locations on its departure screens.

Heathrow handles more passengers than all its European competitors. But in terms of destinations it has slipped back to 12th – behind Denver and before Jeddah. Heathrow served 221 other airports in the first half of the year. The west London hub is, however, doing better than its pre-pandemic position of 18th worldwide.

London Gatwick handles about half the passengers of Heathrow. Yet the Sussex airport was only two places – and three destinations – behind its bigger rival. Gatwick takes 14th place in the table, way ahead of any other “secondary” airport. It shares the position with Madrid, which also serves 218 destinations.

Dubai, which took the title of busiest airport for international departures from Heathrow, occupies sixth place with 269 destinations.

Dallas-Fort Worth, Shanghai Pudong and Atlanta are seventh, eighth and ninth in the table respectively. Of the top 20, half were European airports. Four were in each of China and the US.

The remaining two were in the Middle East: as well as Dubai in sixth, Jeddah was just one place and two destinations behind London Heathrow, taking 13th spot with 219 locations on the departure screens.

The Independent has invited Heathrow and Gatwick to comment.