Istanbul Airport overtakes London Heathrow as world’s most connected

The world’s most connected airports have just been revealed – and five of the top 10 megahubs are in Europe.

According to the latest Megahubs Index by OAG, Istanbul Airport in Türkiye claimed the top spot for 2026, overtaking London Heathrow.

The rankings are based on the number of possible connections between inbound and outbound flights within a six-hour window on the busiest day of the year, Sunday 2 August, and the number of destinations served from the airport.

Istanbul, which is the eighth busiest airport in the world in terms of capacity, has possible connections to 337 global destinations.

London Heathrow dropped down a place, with potential connections falling by 6% compared to the busiest day last year. OAG notes that the airport has been “undoubtedly affected by the ongoing disruption to Middle East schedules, with its capacity to the region down by 25% this August”.

Other European megahubs in the top 10 include Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in third place, Frankfurt International Airport in seventh, and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in ninth.

Among the top 50, 12 megahubs are located in Europe, including: Madrid Adolfo Suarez-Barajas (18th), Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen (21st), Athens (22nd), Munich (23rd), Rome Fiumicino (27th), Barcelona (41st) and Zurich (45th).