I don’t want to bury the lede — in posts, I often reference how Turkish Airlines flies to more countries than any other airline in the world. However, how many countries does the airline actually fly to, and how far ahead of competitors is Turkish Airlines? I thought that would be interesting to explore…
In this post:
Turkish Airlines flies to 120+ countries
Turkish Airlines has the record for flying to more countries than any other airline in the world. That has been the case for a long time, but just recently, the Star Alliance carrier made it official, with a new Guinness World Record in the category of “most countries flown to by an airline.”
The airline has flown to more countries than any other airline since 2012, and has a sizable lead over competitors. However, up until now, it wasn’t a Guinness World Record.
Just how many countries does Turkish Airlines fly to? The official record is for the airline flying to 120 countries, which reflects active routes of the last 12 months. However, including temporarily suspended routes, the carrier’s network spans up to 131 countries.
Turkish Airlines is also far from done with its expansion — the airline has massive growth plans, and intends to double in size between 2023 and 2033. Of course that won’t necessarily lead to a huge increase in the number of countries served, as much of that growth will be focused on adding destinations in countries already served, and increasing frequencies in existing markets.
Turkish Airlines has a 30+ country lead over other airlines
What’s perhaps most impressive about Turkish Airlines’ record for serving the most countries is just how far ahead of competitors the airline is. Turkish Airlines claims to be 30+ countries ahead of the next airline when it comes to countries served.
Anyone want to take a guess as to which airlines are next on the list? Here are a few general thoughts that come to mind:
- Airlines in the Middle East (or between what we traditionally think of as Europe and Asia) have a huge advantage, since they can serve countries both east and west that aren’t too far
- Europe has dozens of countries in close proximity, so that’s an easy way to serve lots of countries
- I’d assume that extensive service to Africa is also a must to have a high country count, since it’s a continent that’s not well served by many airlines
Wwith that in mind, which airlines serve the most countries, aside from Turkish Airlines? According to flightconnections.com:
- Among the “big three” Gulf carriers, Qatar Airways flies to 84 countries, Emirates flies to 77 countries, and Etihad flies to 52 countries
- Among the “big three” European carriers, Air France flies to 83 countries, British Airways flies to 79 countries, and Lufthansa flies to 71 countries
- Among the “big three” US carriers, United flies to 73 countries, American flies to 62 countries, and Delta flies to 59 countries
It would appear that Air France and Qatar Airways are basically tied behind Turkish Airlines, give or take. It’s not surprising to see Air France doing so well, given that the airline serves a lot more countries in Africa than other European carriers.
Meanwhile it’s impressive that Emirates serves so many countries when you consider that the airline just flies wide body jets. If you combined the networks of Emirates and FlyDubai (both are owned by the government, but the airlines are run separately), then the combined airline would have close to as many destinations as Turkish Airlines.
Let me of course also acknowledge that the number of countries served and number of destinations served is very different, and US carriers would do much better by the latter metric. And if the question is the number of premium destinations served, then there’s only one right answer. 😉
Bottom line
Turkish Airlines sets the world record for serving the most countries in the world. The airline actively flies to 120+ countries, but including suspended routes, serves 130+ countries. That puts the airline way ahead of the next carriers by this metric, which are Air France and Qatar Airways, each of which serve just under 85 countries.
Are you surprised by the airlines serving the most countries?
It pretty much boils down to which airlines fly to more countries I never want to visit.
They love boasting about their route network but have quite literally among the worst customer service of any full service airline.
Something that TK has in common with DL.
I wonder where Ethiopian fits in?
According to the Star Alliance website, Ethiopian flies to 75 countries. See
https://www.staralliance.com/en/members?airlineCode=ET
Oneworld member's data can be found at:
https://www.oneworld.com/members
SkyTeam data is loccated by clicking on individual members at :
https://www.skyteam.com/en/about/korean-air
(for KAL, as an example)
Note: there are some 'differential' results using this information compared to Ben's figures.
It all comes down to the breadth vs density of a route network. There are advantages of both approaches
You mean girth? Something you lack.
I imagine that Timbits is like a vienna sausage in this regard. Ironic because DL doesn't fly to VIE.
lololololol that's all you can say? pathetic
You should know that seeking your approval is nowhere on my radar
We are well aware you actively seek everyone’s disapproval.
So how many of these Turkish routes are "vanity" ports? Are they really filling an A330 between Istanbul and Cotonou? Or Istanbul and Ouagadougou?
I've long suspected that many of the Chinese carriers operating routes to Australia must be heavily reliant on freight to make the services viable, and that the passenger cabins would be quite sparsely occupied. Perhaps Turkish is doing something along the same lines.
"And if the question is the number of premium destinations served, then there’s only one right answer. "
I am here for Ben's trolling.
The very premium destinations of DTW/SLC/MSP/ATL that make up a majority of DL's traffic and profits.
@Tim Done
“Among the “big three” US carriers, United flies to 73 countries, American flies to 62 countries, and Delta flies to 59 countries”
Congrats to Turkish, I guess? Maybe they need to figure out how to provide decent customer service next…
“However, up until now, it wasn’t a Guinness World Record.”
Allow me to translate: “However, up until now, Turkish Airlines hasn’t paid an overhyped and overrated marketing company to make a cheap photo op out of it.”
"Let me of course also acknowledge that the number of countries served and number of destinations served is very different"
So which airlines fly to the most destinations?
BA and AA flying to more countries than LH and DL respectively comes to me as a huge surprise
DL heavily trails AA and UA in Latin America and the Caribbean. In fact, I've often said one of AA's few impressive features is their unparalleled Caribbean route map. They fly to just about every jet-capable airport in Caribbean out of MIA
For DL, it's not a big surprise (to me), they have outsourced almost the entire TPAC routes to KE
I was mostly surprised by BA surpassing LH, rather than AA outnumbering DL. Especially how many destinations in Asia does LH fly to, contrast to BA's relatively small presence in the region (and so is the alliance itself).
I mean so has AA, with the exception of DEL (and I'm pretty sure Delta will fly there in the near future), both airlines only fly to Japan, Korea, and China
Air Canada flies to 65 countries. Don’t forget about the other big North American carrier.
Little brother syndrome in evidence.
Still more than American or Delta and just behind big brother United. Impressive for a flag carrier that has land borders with only two countries, now that the Hans Island situation has been formalized.