OAG's megahubs: Istanbul leads; China recovers; Middle East airports struggle

The OAG Megahubs report has been published for the period Sep-2025 to Aug-2026.

It identifies, inter alia, the Top 50 international airports for connectivity, employing a connectivity index built from numerous factors, one of which is activity on the busiest day in the period.

This report focuses on the Top 20 airports and adds insight and comment from CAPA - Centre for Aviation.

The main finding is that Istanbul Airport leads the field for connectivity for the first time, throwing doubt on the long-held belief that the Middle East is the foremost region.

In fact, Dubai comes in outside that Top 20 altogether, at #31, but there are several reasons for that; it isn't merely a question of a single powerful airline operating a hub and spoke network.

Overall, the Asia Pacific region leads the table; China has recovered from the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, and with a notably strong performance from Kuala Lumpur.

But some of the old stagers in Europe are still hanging on in there, while Chicago O'Hare Airport has the third widest connectivity reach of any of the airports.

Some of the biggest risers and fallers are put in the spotlight. Guangzhou Airport had the biggest gain, and is back in the table six years after its 'annus mirabilis' in 2020.

Bogotá's El Dorado Airport continues to shine, distracting attention from the two best known Latin American airports.

Of the fallers, Frankfurt gains the greatest sympathy vote, dragged down as it is by an unholy trilogy of location costs, Lufthansa cuts, and operational bottlenecks.

And, in the case of a growing number of airports, the part played by low cost flights and what they add to the sum of connectivity cannot be overlooked.