Cities with the Most Airports

1. London

London has long been known as one of the busiest metros in the world for air travel. While most large metros around the world are served primarily by one, maybe two airports, London on the other hand is served by 5. Although these are the five official airports of London, there are also many regional airports in the Greater London area that offer budget alternatives for regional travel. The largest airport in Europe, London Heathrow is one of the busiest airports in the world both for daily passengers and flights in and out. Heathrow services the most destinations worldwide of any of the other London airports. The second primary airport is Gatwick, which doesn’t serve as many destinations worldwide as Heathrow, but still services most major airports worldwide.

2. Madrid

Madrid is served by several regional and international airports. Most international flights come and go out of Madrid-Barajas Airport, which is Spain’s largest airport and one of the busiest in Europe. Contrary to many, Madrid-Barajas Airport is conveniently located within a short distance of the popular areas of Madrid, as it’s just a few miles from both city centre and the financial district. Unlike many cities around the world that are decreasing their number of airports, Madrid is adding. Over the next few years Madrid is constructing two new airports, which will be more for cargo, low-cost carrier and private planes.

3. Los Angeles

Since L.A. is so spread out, you could only come to expect that it’s one of the cities with the most airports. Greater Los Angeles includes over 30, with this including military, domestic, towered and untowered airports. Of those 30+, two are international, L.A./Ontario and L.A. International, known as LAX to most of the world. L.A. Ontario is located on the eastside in Ontario, while LAX is on the west and the busier of the two. Los Angeles International is a major gateway airport and one of the top five busiest airports in the world. LAX is one of the most notable airports in the world, as it has a distinguishable architecture, highlighted by the restaurant called Encounter, which resembles something you would expect to see out of a Star Trek Film.

4. New York City

Not only is NYC one of the cities with the most airports, but its three primary airports are some of the busiest in the world, with one of them, Newark, being just across the state line in New Jersey. It’s not unusual for travelers to search flights for Newark, LaGuardia and JFK when planning travel, since most large aircraft carriers fly in and out of all three. JFK is the largest, located in Queens and handling most of New York’s international flights. LaGuardia, also in Queens, is the preferred choice for domestic flights. Although Newark is a little further from the city, it includes both international and domestic flights and is typically preferred since it’s much less crowded. Although nowhere near the flight and crowd traffic of the three major airports, Long Island MacArthur Airport also does domestic flights from many of the major airline carriers.

5. Paris

Similarly to New York City, Paris also has three large airports that are used significantly for domestic and international flights from major carriers. Most notably is Charles de Gaulle, which serves 500 cities worldwide. Located northeast of Paris, it’s the primary hub for France’s largest carrier, Air France. It’s the second busiest in Europe with passengers and a major cargo airport that is among the 10 busiest in the world. Orly and Beauvais-Tillé are primarily used for France and European flights. Beauvais-Tillé is often preferred for European travel as it’s a hub for several major budget carriers.

1. 

   Trent says:

   August 21, 2010 at 6:24 pm

   London has 5 airports! Amazing!

   reply
2. 

   JoeyfromSC says:

   August 23, 2010 at 10:10 am

   That’s pretty wild that London has 5!! I have only flown in/out of one of the three in NYC-LaGuardia!

   Thanks for the list! SO interesting!

   reply