Continental Routes: Europe’s Top 10 Busiest Airline Hubs

I have often wondered which of Europe’s hub airlines has the largest intra-Europe network, particularly internationally. Such carriers revolve around both transit and point-to-point passengers, although the proportions of each vary widely. For them, intra-Europe is their foundation, the network that gives them overall strength.

Turkish Airlines is #1 overall

With 128 European destinations from Istanbul Airport, Turkish Airlines is predictably Europe’s number one carrier by network breadth. While some readers may not agree with Turkey being included as part of the continent, that is up to them.

As the table below shows, Turkish Airlines ranks so highly because of its vast domestic network – it is somewhat below par internationally, even with the recent addition of Kraków. Just 64% of its European network is international, the lowest of all the carriers mentioned. Its long-discussed plan for large regional jets may help increase this, subject to bilateral restrictions, although given its enormous feed, I wonder how important that is.

It serves 46 Turkish destinations from its Istanbul Airport hub, a vastly greater domestic network than the others. Of course, this is unsurprising. It results from the country’s geographic size and often slow overland transport. However, as domestic fares are regulated, the point-to-point market probably doesn’t perform too well.

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The table

Other hub carriers weren’t large enough, network-wise, to be included. Note that the destinations mentioned are based on their own operations plus any regional carrier, if relevant. Codeshares, alliances, and so on weren’t included, although they expand an airline’s reach.

Lufthansa #1 internationally

With 103 international intra-European destinations, Lufthansa’s Frankfurt hub is number one. Analysis of the Star Alliance member’s schedules using OAG data indicates that it serves 35 international countries across Europe – the same as Turkish Airlines from Istanbul Airport.

With 12 destinations, Spain is Lufthansa’s most-served nation from Frankfurt, then France and the UK with 11 each, Italy with 10, and Poland with six.

Lufthansa at Frankfurt

If summer departing seats for sale are considered, the UK is Lufthansa’s leading European market from Frankfurt (974,000), then Spain (930,000), Spain (827,000), France (762,000), and Poland (433,000).

It serves six Polish airports from Frankfurt, the same as it does from Munich. It surpasses KLM from Schiphol as Amsterdam-Katowice, introduced in October 2022, ends on March 25th, the last day of the northern winter.

At the airport level, London Heathrow is Lufthansa’s top Frankfurt route (379,000 departing seats), then Barcelona (286,000), Paris CDG (260,000), Brussels (209,000), and Rome Fiumicino (196,000).

The city level is perhaps more insightful. As it also serves London City and Gatwick starts on April 23rd, the UK capital has nearly half a million departing seats, by far the most. OAG shows that it has up to 17 daily London-bound flights from Frankfurt.

Which of the hubs mentioned above will you be flying to this summer? Let us know in the comments.