Against The Grain: 14 Of The World’s Top 100 International Airports Don’t Have UK
Summary
- Some 10 of the 14 airports previously had UK service.
- Most did so until recently, including two in 2023.
- Panama City ranks the highest among those that haven’t previously had UK flights, at least not in the past 20 years.
The UK has non-stop or one-stop same-plane service to 86 of the world’s busiest 100 airports for international flights. This is a finding based on examining schedules supplied by carriers to OAG. It does, of course, mean that 14 of the top 100 airports don’t have UK flights. Yet most were previously connected – including recently.
These are the 14 airports
The busiest airports without UK flights are shown on the following map and in the subsequent table. Moscow cannot be served due to sanctions, while some are very close to other airports already served from the UK.
Image: GCMap
Fort Lauderdale is, of course, located close to Miami. Then there’s Bangkok Mueang (Suvarnabhumi is served), Sharjah (Dubai is served), and Tokyo Narita (Haneda is served).
Perhaps someday, Air Arabia will serve the UK from Sharjah with its A321LRs. Who knows? It is increasingly reaching into Europe, with flights as far as Milan Bergamo.
Photo: Air Arabia
The table
Note that this article does not discuss whether the 14 airports might have UK flights; I could fill pages by examining them separately. Instead, it is about highlighting those that are unserved in this way.
Many reasons exist for why airports not located near others with UK flights are not served. At the highest level, it usually boils down to some combination of distance, yields, traffic, traffic rights, and multiple one-stop options, undermining potential performance. Given airlines only have limited aircraft, they may have better alternative opportunities for them. After all, they must (at least try) to make a return.
|
International ranking (out of 100)* |
Airport |
Served from the UK in the past 20 years? |
|---|---|---|
|
18 |
Tokyo Narita |
Yes; served for years by BA until 2020. Before that, JAL and ANA flew until 2014, and Virgin until 2015. BA, JAL, ANA now serve the UK from Haneda, closer to Tokyo |
|
29 |
Manila |
Yes; served by Philippine Airlines until 2022 |
|
32 |
Osaka Kansai |
Yes; served by BA in 2019/2020. Before that, by JAL until 2009 |
|
41 |
Panama City |
No |
|
47 |
Jakarta Soekarno–Hatta |
Yes; served by Garuda Indonesia until 2019 |
|
54 |
Sharjah |
No |
|
67 |
Denpasar-Bali |
Yes; served by Garuda Indonesia in 2019/2020 |
|
68 |
San Juan |
Yes; served by Norwegian until 2017. Before that, it was part of BA’s network until 2013 and Virgin’s until 2011 |
|
78 |
Bangkok Mueang |
No |
|
81 |
Auckland |
Yes; served for years by Air New Zealand until 2020 |
|
85 |
Moscow Sheremetyevo |
Yes; served for years by Aeroflot until the war and BA until 2020. BA consolidated at Domodedovo, but before ending flights due to the war |
|
87 |
Fort Lauderdale |
Yes; served by Norse Atlantic in 2023. Before that, it was part of Norwegian and BA’s network until 2019 |
|
89 |
Lima |
Yes; served by BA until 2019. LATAM Peru launched it in December 2023, but it was extremely quickly postponed and has been pulled entirely |
|
99 |
Pusan |
No |
|
* Based on international seats in Q1 2024 |
Which of the above airports would you most like to have connected to the UK? Let us know by leaving a comment.