What are the World’s Best Airports?
10 Nov 2025Airline route networks really fascinate me. Walking into one of the great airports of the world you can feel the reach of the place and the people who move through it.
S Tier
The handful of irreplaceable hubs that every airline wants to fly to:
Hong Kong (HKG) London (LHR) Los Angeles (LAX) New York (JFK) Paris (CDG) Singapore (SIN) Tokyo (HND)
A Tier
Mega-hubs with massive passenger count usually powered by a single airline. Also some regional capitals / gateways.
Amsterdam (AMS) Atlanta (ATL) Beijing (PEK and probably PKX* too) Chicago (ORD) Delhi (DEL) Doha (DOH) Dubai (DXB) Frankfurt (FRA) Istanbul (IST) Miami (MIA) Seoul (ICN) Shanghai (PVG) Sydney (SYD) Tokyo (NRT)
B Tier
Regionally essential airports that still anchor intercontinental networks like Madrid or São Paulo (both South America <-> Europe), and domestic superhubs with international connectedness like Dallas / Houston.
Addis Ababa (ADD)* Bangkok (BKK) Dallas (DFW) Houston (IAH) Johannesburg (JNB)* Madrid (MAD) Mexico City (MEX) Moscow (SVO) (pre-war - it’s C tier today)* Munich (MUC) Mumbai (BOM)* New York (EWR) Panama City (PTY)* San Francisco (SFO) São Paulo (GRU) Taipei (TPE) Toronto (YYZ) Vancouver (YVR)
C Tier
Regionally important airports like Anchorage (arctic / cargo), Addis Ababa (west African gateway), and Jeddah (Hajj traffic).
Abu Dhabi (AUH) Anchorage (ANC) Bogota (BOG)* Buenos Aires (EZE) Casablanca (CMN)* Denver (DEN) Honolulu (HNL) Jakarta (CGK)* Jeddah (JED) Kuala Lumpur (KUL) Lima (LIM)* Lisbon (LIS) Manila (MNL) Montreal (YUL) Riyadh (RUH)* Rome (FCO) Santiago (SCL)* Zürich (ZRH)
- I haven’t personally been to these airports. Looking at route maps is great but a list like this is really an exercise in the vibes of an airport.
Standing invitation (inspired by Patio11 who also has some good tips on how to approach this): if you want to talk about hard tech or systems, I want to talk to you.
My email is my full name at gmail.com.
- I read every email and will almost always reply.
- I like reading things you’ve written.
- I go to conferences to meet people like you.
- Meetings outside of conferences are tougher to fit with my schedule - let’s chat over email first. Specificity and being concise makes it easy for me to reply :)