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These 12 US Airports Offer The Most Options For International Travel

It is well known that New York JFK Airport has long been the most connected airport in the United States for international flights and that Miami Airport is the gateway to Latin America . But what are the best airports in the country for international flights? Ranking these airports is somewhat complicated as it doesn’t solely rely on single criteria like the number of connections or destinations at a given airport.
It should also be noted that some airports are better than others for flying to different regions of the world. For example, Los Angeles offers many flights to the Asia-Pacific . Here is what to know about the top twelve airports in the United States for international flights according to OAG.
OAG’s Megahubs 2024
OAG has released its report on the world’s top 50 internationally connected airports as well as the most domestically connected airports in the United States. Other lists include the most internationally connected low-cost carrier airports and most domestically connected airports.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
The rankings are generated by comparing the number of scheduled connections to and from international flights with the number of destinations served from that airport.
The information includes the dominant carrier at the airport. It only includes flights by that operating carrier and not codeshare or affiliate flights.
OAG notes that the Top 20 Global Megahubs have continued to see a slight shift towards Asia. Still, North America continues to have five in the list of which four are in the United States and one in Canada.
Related Which Continent Has The Most Airport Megahubs? These airports focus on a hub-and-spoke model, which predominantly offers flights with an intermediate connection.
The United States has 12 of 50 Megahubs
The United States has twelve airports in OAG’s list of 50 Megahubs in 2024. Delta and United are the dominant carriers at four airports each, while American Airlines is the dominant carrier at three airports and Alaska Airlines is dominant at one.
Photo: Port Authority of NY & NJ
Four US airlines offer international flights beyond the sun destinations of the Caribbean/Mexican/Central American region or Canada. They are Delta, United, American, and JetBlue. JetBlue only operates narrowbody aircraft and transatlantic flights to Europe. Alaska has some widebody Dreamliners on order and will offer international flights beyond sun destinations in the future.
The United States’ fourth-largest carrier by fleet size, Southwest Airlines, only operates Boeing 737 aircraft, and its only international destinations are to the greater Caribbean region. It doesn’t operate flights to Canada as its payment system is not set up to receive Canadian dollars.
United States airports with the most international options
It should come as little surprise that the most connected airport in the United States is New York-JFK. Delta is the dominant carrier at the airport with a 35% market share, and the airport attracts large numbers of foreign carriers from Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere. Notably, JFK receives the longest nonstop flight in the world from Singapore.
Overall, JFK is the world’s sixth most connected airport. New York’s other major international airport, Newark Liberty in New Jersey, is the country’s sixth global megahub. That airport is dominated by United, which has a 70% market share at the airport.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
JFK already has direct flights to Singapore, but from 2027 Qantas plans to launch direct flights from Sydney after it receives its ultra-long-range A350-1000s in 2026.
It’s also worth noting that New York-JFK is the only US airport to be included in OAG’s list of top 25 low-cost carrier airport hubs. JFK came in at ninth overall with 12,192 low-cost carrier connections to 199 destinations.
According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Delta is closely followed by the low-cost carrier, JetBlue. JetBlue has a 32% market share at the airport, making it almost equal to Delta.
Airport: Rank in the US: International Rank: Dominant carrier: Connections: Destinations: New York-JFK: 1 6 Delta Air Lines (35%) 43,337 199 Chicago O’Hare: 2 9 United Airlines (47%) 55,446 282 Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta: 3 11 Delta Air Lines (75%) 46,622 246 Dallas-Fort Worth: 4 18 American Airlines (84%) 42,710 265 Los Angeles: 5 21 Delta Air Lines (20%) 28,970 201 Newark Liberty-New York: 6 27 United Airlines (70%) 27,550 200 George Bush Intercontinental, Houston: 7 29 United Airlines (77%) 28,477 210 Miami International: 8 30 American Airlines (64%) 26,839 200 Seattle-Tacoma: 9 34 Alaska Airlines (55%) 16,450 131 Boston-Logan: 10 39 Delta Air Lines (26%) 16,345 151 San Francisco: 11 41 United Airlines (47%) 16,157 155 Charlotte Douglas: 12 49 American Airlines (87%) 15,220 190
Chicago O’Hare is ranked second in the United States for international flights and is the only other US airport to make the top ten globally, coming in ninth place.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta is famously the busiest airport in the world, and it is ranked third in the US for international flights. It is the megahub for Delta, which has a 75% market share at the airport. Globally, it falls out of the top ten megahubs, coming in at eleventh place.
Texas has the fourth (Dallas-Fort Worth) and seventh (George Bush Intercontinental) ranked airports in the United States for international flights. These are dominated by American Airlines and United Airlines respectively.
California also has two airports to make the list, with LAX coming in at fifth and San Francisco at eleventh in the United States. Delta is the leading airline at LAX, although, with a 20% share, it is far from overwhelming. United has almost half of the operations at SFO.
Photo: Ian Dewar Photography | Shutterstock
Miami International Airport may be the gateway to Latin America attracting Latin American carriers not seen at other US airports. However, it is ranked eighth overall in the United States.
Boston-Logan receives many transatlantic flights from Europe and it comes in at tenth place. Boston Logan is also one of the US airports that regularly sees Airbus A380 Superjumbo flights.
Rounding out the top 12 US international airports is North Carolina’s Charlotte Douglas. With an 87% market share, American Airlines dominates Charlotte more than any other airport on the list.
United States domestic megahubs
There is some overlap between the United States’ leading international megahubs and its domestic megahubs. Notably, none of New York’s airports appear in the top ten. New York’s domestic airport, LaGuardia, is ranked in eleventh place.
Airport: Dominant carrier (domestic only): Domestic destinations: Chicago O’Hare: United Airlines 205 Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson: Delta Air Lines 162 Dallas-Fort Worth: American Airlines 196 Charlotte: American Airlines 147 Denver International: United Airlines 202 Seattle-Tacoma: Alaska Airlines 96 Los Angeles International: Delta Air Lines 121 Detroit Metropolitan: Delta Air Lines 114 Houston George Bush Intercontinental: United Airlines 139 Boston Logan: Delta Air Lines 90
Something else that stands out on the list of ten leading US domestic airports is that Southwest is not the dominant airline in any of them. The first airport Southwest is dominant in is Las Vegas Harry Reid (ranked 16th mega US domestic hub). That’s behind Honolulu (ranked 15th), where Hawaiian Airlines is the dominant carrier.
Low-cost carriers in the United States are often dispersed over various airports and often focus on smaller airports around the country. For example, instead of competing with the big airlines in New York airports or Philadelphia, Frontier Airlines focuses on the small Trenton-Mercer Airport between those big cities.
Related This Airport Has Become A Hidden Gem Thanks To Frontier Airlines Trenton-Mercer is regarded by some as a hidden gem of a gateway to Florida between NYC and Philadelphia.
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International Megahubs
Five airports around the world outrank New York-JFK as global megahubs. The first airport is London Heathrow, which remains the most internationally connected airport in the world despite its capacity constraints. The airport desperately needs a third runway to expand its capacity. Heathrow is also the fourth-biggest airport in terms of scheduled one-way capacity and British Airways remains the dominant airline with 50% share.
Photo: London Heathrow Airport
In second place is Kuala Lumpur. While it doesn’t have the highest volume of connections by comparison to some other megahubs, it does have a high ratio of connections to destinations served. In 2019, it was in 12th place, rising in 2023 to 4th place, and now it’s in 2nd place. Low-cost carrier AirAsia is the dominant airline (35%), edging out Malaysia Airlines, the country’s flag carrier.
Top five global megahubs:
London-Heathrow
Kuala Lumpur
Tokyo-Haneda
Amsterdam-Schiphol
Seoul-Incheon
In third place is Toyko-Haneda with 24,683 connections and 107 destinations. The dominant airline is Japan Airlines (35% share). In fourth place is Amsterdam-Schiphol, which is notable for not having any domestic flights. KLM has 55% market share while the airport has 62,744 connections and 276 destinations.
Photo: AirAsia
Rounding out the top five international megahubs is Seoul-Incheon with 38,068 connections and 174 destinations. The dominant airline is Korean Air with a 22% share. This is set to increase as it merges with its former rival, Asiana.
Also notable is Istanbul Airport, which offers more destinations than any other megahub. However, OAG’s connectivity methodology pushes it down to 8th place.

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