The World’s Top 10 Airports For Long Haul Flights

Over 370 airports globally have at least one scheduled long-haul passenger flight in April, defined here as covering at least 2,650 nautical miles (3,050 statute miles; 4,908 km).

One in every 25 takeoffs will be operating a long-haul service. Five countries—the US,the UK, the UAE, China, and Japan—have 40% of long-haul flights. All findings are based on examining every service using Cirium Diio data.

Top 10 airports for long-haul flights

They are shown below based on April figures. While the 10 airports are the same as in April 2024, services have increased by 3%. Collectively, departures have risen from an average of 1,225 daily to 1,266.

Analysis shows that the fastest-growing top 10 airport was Paris CDG, whose long-haul flights grew by nearly 9% compared to last April.

While this was obviously mainly due to Air France (+6%), other carriers meaningfully increased frequencies, including All Nippon, Air India, Air Transat, Etihad, Qatar Airways, United, and WestJet.

New York JFK is the only top 10 airport with fewer long-haul flights than last April.

Its volume has fallen by 3%, pushing it down one place to fourth, mainly because Delta and JetBlue have reduced services.

JFK has also lost various carriers, including Aerolíneas Argentinas (it pulled out in August 2024), Air Senegal (September 2024), and Azores Airlines (October 2024).

However, Xiamen Air returned (in May 2024), while it gained the Israeli carrier Arkia (February 2025). JFK is in the running for flights by another Israeli operator, Israir, although it is unclear if it will relaunch transatlantic service.

London Heathrow remains number one

While Heathrow is Europe's busiest airport overall, it ranks first globally for long-haul services. It will have an average of 250 takeoffs to such destinations in April. Nearly one in every 2.5 departures will be long-haul, the highest proportion of the top 10 airports.

Around 45 passenger airlines will operate them. Obviously, British Airways is mainly responsible, with flights to 57 destinations covering at least 2,650 nautical miles (3,050 statute miles; 4,908 km).

BA's network includes a return to Kuala Lumpur on April 1, with a daily 787-9 operation. However, despite being served for decades, Kuwait flights will end on March 30, when BA (and other northern carriers) switch to summer schedules based on IATA slot seasons. It is not a seasonal cut.

As Heathrow is the main intercontinental gateway to London, a major global city, it has flights by many global operators (although its chronic slot shortage means others go elsewhere).

As such, BA only has a third of long-haul flights. This is a lower proportion than the carriers at the other top 10 European hubs in the table.

JFK and Los Angeles are similar. Both airports have flights by many global carriers and are not home to a massively dominant hub operator.

While Delta is JFK's leading long-haul airline, it has only a fifth of departures, while United has less than one in 10 from Los Angeles.