Chicago O’Hare & Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Share #1 Ranking for Top U.S. Domestic Megahubs, OAG Data Reveals

New York’s JFK is the Highest Ranking North American Airport Among Top 50 Global Megahubs

Key Findings:

• Fifteen North American airports appear in the Global Top 50, with New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) ranking #6 in the world.
• Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) ranks #9 and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) ranks #11 among Global Megahubs.
• Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) moves back into the global top 20 at #18 and ranks #3 for domestic connectivity.

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--OAG, the leading data platform for the global travel industry, today released Megahubs 2024, the market’s definitive ranking of the Top 50 internationally connected airports in the world, including the Top 25 most domestically connected airports in the U.S. OAG Megahubs analyzes not only the total number of destinations served, but also the number of scheduled connections to and from international flights with the number of destinations served from the airport.

New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) leads U.S. airports, ranking #6 in the Global Top 50 list. JFK is followed by Chicago O’Hare (ORD) at #9, up one spot globally from last year. Both Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson (ATL) and Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) climbed three spots in the global list, ranking #11 and #18 respectively, with Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) appearing in the top 20 again after ranking #21 last year.

In the Top 25 U.S. Domestic Megahubs rankings, Chicago O’Hare (ORD) makes its seventh consecutive appearance at #1 and shares the top spot this year with Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson (ATL). Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson (ATL) has the largest domestic capacity in the past year (September 2023 – August 2024), while Chicago O’Hare (ORD) offers more domestic connecting options, representing an equal level of connectivity offered at both airports. Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) follows at #3, offering a potential 48,292 connections out of the 196 destinations served at its airport. Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) and Denver International Airport (DEN) round out the top 5.

United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines dominate the share of flights at the top three ranking U.S. domestic airports. Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) has one of the highest rates of market share accounted by one carrier – American Airlines – which operates 85% of all flights at DFW. American Airlines also has a strong position at #4 ranking Charlotte (CLT), owning 87% of all flights there.

“We can expect Chicago to continue its dominance in the U.S. as it looks to expand its terminals to meet growing demand for international flights, and Atlanta will keep pace as it remains home to two of the country’s largest airlines,” said John Grant, chief analyst at OAG. “The growth shown among U.S. Megahubs is reflective of recovery across all regions as international capacity has increased by 12% in 2024 compared to last year.”

Outside the U.S., London Heathrow Airport (LHR) ranks as the world’s number one most internationally connected airport for the second year in a row. The Asia Pacific region continues to show a strong recovery with seventeen airports appearing in the Global Top 50 and eight landing within the top 20. Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL) moved up two spots to rank #2 in the world.

OAG Megahubs is based on OAG flight data from the 100 largest airports and the 100 largest international airports in the world, based on total scheduled seats for an entire year. Data is extracted from the busiest day for global aviation in the past year (September 2023 to August 2024), which was Friday, August 2, 2024. The total number of all possible connections is calculated between inbound and outbound flights within a six-hour window, considering those where either the inbound, outbound or both flights are international.

For more insights from Megahubs 2024 and the full methodology, view the full analysis here.

About OAG

OAG is the leading data platform for the global travel industry, powering the growth and innovation of the air travel ecosystem. It has the world’s largest network of flight information.

In July 2023, OAG acquired Infare, the leading provider of competitor air travel data, empowering airlines and other travel industry players to make effective pricing decisions since 2000. Together, OAG and Infare now form part of the most trusted data platform for aviation.