While there’s often talk about the world’s busiest airports, less discussion occurs about airports served by the most scheduled passenger airlines. In October, Paris CDG takes the world crown, with not one US airport in the top ten list.
Airports with the most passenger airlines
As shown below, Paris CDG is served by more passenger airlines in October than any other airport globally. The result is based on analyzing over 3,500 airports worldwide using data from OAG.
CDG is number one
The position of CDG is despite ranking ‘only’ 17th busiest globally by flights. It is also the case even though Air France is naturally dominant, with 57% of flights at the airport, which is its primary hub. Helping the figures is its strong African network, for which its A330-200s are crucial.
While Air France’s 57% share is far lower than the 70% required for a fortress hub, it is notably above the average 43% share of services of the leading airline at each airport in the table and second only to Lufthansa’s share at Frankfurt (62%).
Given Air France’s domination and that CDG is SkyTeam’s fourth-largest airport, the breadth of carriers is noteworthy. Of course, CDG is not just a significant hub; Paris is a megacity with over 12 million people and is also among the world’s leading tourist destinations. However, as you’d expect, CDG has, like most airports, fewer operators than pre-pandemic. The clawback continues.
CDG airlines: a summary
CDG’s top ten airlines by October flights are Air France (9,262), easyJet (1,498), Lufthansa (316), Delta (310), Vueling (280), Turkish Airlines (242), Air Algérie (228), ITA (174), SAS (158), and Austrian (141). Between them, they’re responsible for 77% of the facility’s flights.
More interesting, perhaps, are those carriers with relatively few services. Many could be mentioned, but I’ve focused here on SriLankan, Uzbekistan Airways, and Air Tahiti Nui.
SriLankan presently routes 2x weekly nonstop from Colombo to CDG but returns home via Frankfurt, deploying A330s. However, from October 30th, it’ll be reversed: flying 2x weekly Colombo-Frankfurt-CDG-Frankfurt.
Uzbekistan Airways, meanwhile, also has 2x weekly CDG flights, mainly by the A321neo. It runs nonstop from Tashkent, with Flightradar24 showing that it covers the 3,199 miles (5,148km) in around 7h to 7h 30m. It is occasionally operated by the A320neo (!), the last time being September 23rd. Going to Tashkent, 1x weekly is nonstop, and 1x weekly is via Urgench, in western Uzbekistan.
Then there’s Air Tahiti Nui
Perhaps the most exotic airline to serve Europe is Air Tahiti Nui. It runs Papeete-Los Angeles-CDG, obviously because of the French connection, 6x weekly utilizing 294-seat B787-9s. And with fifth freedom traffic rights between CDG and Los Angeles, it’s usually the cheapest nonstop option between the two airports.
Source: simpleflying.com