Revealed: The World's Top 10 Airports for Long-Haul Flights in September

Almost 400 airports worldwide have long-haul scheduled passenger flights in September. Due to its renowned slot shortage and huge demand, including from premium passengers, London Heathrow remains number one. It has an average of 251 daily long-haul departures, up by four compared to last September. More long-haul carriers are coming.

In this article, ‘long-haul’ is taken to mean any flights that cover at least 3,000 statute miles (2,607 nautical miles, 4,828 km) each way. This is the same cutoff point that United Airlines uses. Marginal changes to this distance would have little impact on the results. All data is from Cirium Diio.

The World’s Top 10 Airports For Long-Haul Flights In September

Schedule analysis shows that 37% of London Heathrow’s total departures will go to long-haul destinations, which is by far the highest proportion of any European airport or hub. It is a much higher share than at Paris CDG and Frankfurt, which will soon welcome the return of Korean Air’s A380s. It is also greater than any other top 10 entry, including the two ever-growing Gulf hubs of Dubai and Doha.

Heathrow’s position is quite different when the market share of the top operator is considered. British Airways ‘only’ has a third of all long-haul departures. This reflects the enormous diversity of airlines at the UK’s busiest airport, with four of the top 10 foreign carriers being long-haul. Of course, if Heathrow does eventually get another runway after decades of discussion, BA’s share will reduce. It is no surprise that the oneworld member isn’t keen on the infrastructure development.

Doha Has Risen From 6th Place Last September To 5th Now

In September 2024, the top ten entries—which are the same as now—had 1,296 daily long-haul departures. A year later, they’ve risen to 1,336 (+3%). Cirium shows that this is higher than any other September to date. While no airport has entered or exited the top ten list in the past year, there have been changes within it. Due to 6% more long-haul flights, Doha has jumped one place to fifth. It has overtaken Frankfurt.

Doha now has 121 daily long-haul takeoffs, which have risen from 114. The arrival of Shenzhen Airlines in October 2024 from its namesake Chinese city and Virgin Australia in June 2025 contributed, with Virgin feeding Qatar Airways’ flights. Virgin now serves Doha from Brisbane, Perth, and Sydney, with Melbourne flights coming.

Moreover, China Southern’s Doha service has risen from four weekly flights from Guangzhou last September to two daily now, while Philippine Airlines’ Manila offering has jumped from three weekly to daily. Qatar Airways codeshares with them. Then there’s Qatar Airways itself. Compared to 12 months ago, various long-haul routes have joined or rejoined its map, including Toronto in December 2024. Multiple routes now have higher frequencies. This includes Heathrow, with seven to eight daily departures, which will rise to a high of 10 daily in the upcoming winter.

Madrid Now Ranks 8th Globally

Madrid is the fastest-growing top ten airport for long-haul flights. They have jumped from 92 daily last September to 102 now (+11%). This increase meant that Barajas is now the world’s eighth-busiest airport for such activity, overtaking Amsterdam. Before the coronavirus pandemic in September 2019, Cirium data indicates that Madrid was only 12th.

Iberia’s long-haul departures have increased by a tenth, which is a huge amount in just 12 months. However, this had less to do with additional routes—compared to last September, only Tokyo Narita has joined its map (October 2024)—and more to do with higher frequencies. Part of this was because of its Airbus A321XLRs, of which it was the launch customer.

The additional carriers to have joined Madrid’s portfolio are perhaps more interesting. They include Azul (June 2025), Capital Airlines (January 2025), Ethiopian Airlines (July 2025), JetBlue (May 2025), Sichuan Airlines (April 2025), and Uzbekistan Airways (April 2025). Various incumbent foreign airlines have grown well. For example, following the start of Chicago O’Hare flights, American now has six daily departures from Madrid, up from five.