Travel Trivia

Destinations with more than a million seats outgoing from the USA (39 airports)


Destinations with more than 3 million seats outgoing from the USA (9 airports)


Which Airport gets the most international passengers to/from USA?
Which Airports are the top 3 for international passengers to/from USA?

I got the first two but would have never guessed the third one.

I got the first one, but am not sure why the second one is second. It's a gateway to...?

Is the load difference between the top nine significant?

Quote: Ayecarumba

I got the first one, but am not sure why the second one is second. It's a gateway to...?

Is the load difference between the top nine significant?

YYZ (Toronto) is the largest city in Canada. Canada is the US's largest trading partner which means a ton of business traffic.

My ranking based on how many clients I send to these destinations for business
My main client manufactures engines

FRA Send a ton of people here
LHR send a ton of people
NRT send a lot
YYZ Mostly to connect to Europe or China
MEX mostly to connect to smaller cities in Mexico
ICN send some people
CDG send a few
YVR Hardly ever book
CUN just a few times in over 20 years of booking business travel

Quote: terapined

My ranking based on how many clients I send to these destinations for business

Business travel will give you a different rank than including tourism, friends and relatives. Don't forget the air traffic includes foreign nationals coming to the USA to visit as businessmen, tourists, or friends and relatives.


The country list in order follow:
Canada
Mexico
United Kingdom
Japan
Germany
China
France
Dominican Republic
South Korea

There is no airport on the map (9 top airports) for China and Dominican Republic because the traffic is spread out on more origin and destination airports.

Quote: Ayecarumba

Is the load difference between the top nine significant?

Yes it is significant. It turns out that the top two airports have more traffic than the 4th ranked country .


NOTE
Copa Airlines began daily nonstop service between Panama and San Francisco on Sept. 17, 2015 Distance of 3,320 statute miles. Copa is operating a Boeing 737-800 Next Generation aircraft with Premium configuration and seating capacity for 16 passengers in Business Class and 138 in the main cabin.

A 737-800 can hold up to 189 seats, but Southwest flies them with 175. Copa only has 154 seats. I highlight this two year old service because BOS-LHR is 3,265 statute miles. It does seem to indicate that it was possible to have limited Transatlantic service when the 737-800 began to be delivered in 2012. It may be that the winds were too rough or there wasn't enough options that the airlines waited until the longer range B737-8 Max was delivered.

It also may mean that Copa was more confident flying this route, since there are dozens of diversionary airports from PTY to SFO, while Transatlantic has basically one major one in Iceland.

Quote: kenarman

YYZ (Toronto) is the largest city in Canada. Canada is the US's largest trading partner which means a ton of business traffic.

Toronto has a ton of international destinations around the world, but it is not clear if there are too many Americans that fly to Toronto just to change planes instead of using a USA gateway. It is possible that the fares are much lower depending on the exchange rate.

Air Canada alone has following destinations from Toronto
Amsterdam, Antigua, Aruba, Beijing–Capital, Bermuda, Buenos Aires–Ezeiza, Copenhagen, Delhi,Dubai–International, ,Frankfurt, Geneva, Grand Cayman, Halifax, Hong Kong, London–Heathrow, Madrid, Mumbai, Munich, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Providenciales, Rome–Fiumicino, Santiago de Chile, São Paulo–Guarulhos, Seoul–Incheon, Shanghai–Pudong, Sydney (AU), Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion, Tokyo–Haneda, Zürich
Seasonal: Cozumel, George Town/Exuma, Huatulco, Ixtapa–Zihuatanejo, Milan–Malpensa, Tokyo–Narita


But as you said, Toronto would generate a lot of origin and destination traffic in and of itself. Since the travel time is not as bad, it may even have a lot of same day business traffic.

Quote: Pacomartin

Toronto has a ton of international destinations around the world, but it is not clear if there are too many Americans that fly to Toronto just to change planes instead of using a USA gateway. It is possible that the fares are much lower depending on the exchange rate.

Air Canada alone has following destinations from Toronto
Amsterdam, Antigua, Aruba, Beijing–Capital, Bermuda, Buenos Aires–Ezeiza, Copenhagen, Delhi,Dubai–International, ,Frankfurt, Geneva, Grand Cayman, Halifax, Hong Kong, London–Heathrow, Madrid, Mumbai, Munich, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Providenciales, Rome–Fiumicino, Santiago de Chile, São Paulo–Guarulhos, Seoul–Incheon, Shanghai–Pudong, Sydney (AU), Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion, Tokyo–Haneda, Zürich
Seasonal: Cozumel, George Town/Exuma, Huatulco, Ixtapa–Zihuatanejo, Milan–Malpensa, Tokyo–Narita


But as you said, Toronto would generate a lot of origin and destination traffic in and of itself. Since the travel time is not as bad, it may even have a lot of same day business traffic.

I don't send many to Toronto but I do send a lot thru Toronto
Air Canada can get pretty aggressive in pricing business class from USA thru YYZ to Asia or Europe
Their flights come up a lot on my fare searches

What's interesting is my 3 major destinations for my USA business travelers did not make the list
BOM
PVG
PEK

Quote: terapined

What's interesting is my 3 major destinations for my USA business travelers did not make the list BOM PVG PEK

Countries with 100% set at United Kingdom (2016 air travel international)
150.8% Canada
146.6% Mexico
100.0% United Kingdom
59.1% Japan
55.9% Germany
40.2% China
36.9% France
36.4% Dominican Republic
32.3% South Korea
26.4% Netherlands
24.2% United Arab Emirates
24.1% Brazil
19.4% Jamaica
17.6% Italy
17.2% Spain
17.8% Colombia
17.4% Hong Kong
16.1% Panama
16.0% Costa Rica
15.9% Australia
15.1% Ireland
14.3% Taiwan
14.1% The Bahamas
11.5% Switzerland
10.6% Turkey
10.2% Qatar
10.5% Peru
9.5% El Salvador
8.7% Argentina
8.6% Iceland
7.5% Aruba
7.4% Israel
6.5% Haiti
6.4% Ecuador
6.3% Guatemala
5.9% Chile
5.8% Cuba
5.7% Denmark
5.5% India

India is pretty far down on the list , because most Indians get to the USA via another country (the biggest choices are Dubai, Amsterdam, and London). Mumbai wouldn't make the list because the distance means there are very few nonstops.


The 39 airports with over a million seats (one way) in 2016 are in order:
LHR YYZ CUN NRT MEX FRA CDG ICN YVR AMS
YUL DXB GDL PEK HKG PTY PVG YYC PUJ GRU
TPE MBJ SJD MAD NAS DUB MUC SDQ ZRH BOG
IST SJO SYD PVR FCO DOH LIM LGW SAL
Polar view cuts off airports in Southern Hemisphere like LIM, GRU , and SYD (Lima, São Paulo, and Sydney)

So Heathrow is by far the most common destination of international travelers from the USA. Toronto is a fairly distant second place. Both airports can be used as a transfer point to other destinations.

While Heathrow is only two runways, you would expect it to have bigger loads on a plane than the other more remote airports in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle or the secondary airports around London.

But in reality the average passengers per plane at Heathrow is only 1% more than average passengers per plane in the airports in the rest of the United Kingdom. This modest increase in passengers is in despite of having 12 more seats per plane on average.
psg seat Load Airports
201 266 75.3% Heathrow USA traffic
199 254 78.3% UK/USA other than Heathrow

Breaking up the traffic into Heathrow by airline, we see the problem. British Airways and their partner American Airlines, along with Virgin Atlantic are flying bigger planes with higher load factors (including A380s). But United and Delta are flying much smaller planes with very low load factors (26 flights per day on UA and DL). Almost every plane is a widebody, but the passenger loads (136 and 141 passengers) are more common to a B737.

Heathrow travel from USA
psg seat Load Airlines
242 289 83.7% British Airways Plc
193 272 71.2% American
211 282 74.7% Virgin Atlantic Airways
141 223 63.5% United
136 217 62.7% Delta

This problem is a hundred billion dollar problem. Airlines are pursuing their own interests, as you would expect profit making companies to do. Delta and United cannot afford to completely lose this lucrative market, so they fly there with much smaller and more empty planes. Runway resources are taxed to the point that airports have to spend billions to expand.

You would see the same issue in Las Vegas, San Diego, LAX, JFK and dozens of other airports.