Africa’s biggest and most profitable airline, Ethiopian Airlines has been ranked as the airline with largest destination in the continent.
According to simpleflying.com, the airline took the top spot in the continent in several categories.
With tens of thousands of flights taking place daily, there’s bound to be a plane that can take you to or from almost any destination.
Africa
Ethiopian Airlines takes the crown for multiple categories, including the number of passengers carried, fleet size, and destinations served. The Star Alliance partner connects the Horn of Africa to more than 127 international destinations across every continent except Oceania. Recently, the country’s flag carrier has been considering adding Malta to their network as a stopover hub for flights to the United States, which some speculate would be a more accessible and affordable fifth freedom route than flying through larger European cities.
The Americas
Although Air Canada connects the continent to the most international locations, American Airlines takes 1st place based purely on the number of destinations in their network. AA, together with its domestic American Eagle operations, services over 350 destinations in 50 countries, offering nearly 6,700 flights daily.
Likewise, in South America, there is a difference between which carrier serves the most international destinations and which flies out of more airports overall. LATAM primarily connects the continent as a region, with additional flights to Central America, North America, Europe, and Africa. In total, the airline operates in 149 cities. However, Azul Brazilian Airlines can take advantage of 152 domestic locations and a few airports between Portugal, Uruguay, and the United States, giving them the most extensive network.
Europe and Asia
Few countries can claim to be continuously transcontinental. However, Turkey has land in Western Asia as well as Southeast Europe. And while it’s not wholly a part of either continent, its flag carrier, Turkish Airlines, holds an aviation record. At the time of writing, TK’s website indicates that they serve an impressive 272 destinations spanning over 100 countries, the only airline currently doing so.
Since Turkish Airlines would take the victory for both Europe and Asia, it’s worth a look at runners-up for both continents. Thanks to its extensive European network, serving 220 cities plus 17 others between the Middle East and North Africa, Ryanair operates about 2,500 daily flights. Meanwhile, for Asia, in part due to a massive domestic network of over 170 destinations, China Southern Airlines operates in more locations than any other carrier in the continent aside from TK. With an additional slew of international flights, CZ departs from a total of 216 airports between 38 countries, according to the latest information on FlightConnections.
Oceania
Finally, from the land down under, the airline offering the most extensive network, unsurprisingly, is Qantas. Serving 64 destinations in Australia and another 32 between 23 other countries, they have current operations in nearly double the amount of airports as Air New Zealand. In a few months, starting June this year, Qantas will be launching a new route connecting Sydney to New York City with a brief stop in Auckland, New Zealand. This news comes as the airline also moves forward in its Project Sunrise ambitions to push the limits of ultra-long-haul flying, eventually connecting Australia to London and New York non-stop.
