Which Airlines Fly To The Most Countries? There's A Huge Gap...

Air Canada flies to 65 countries. Don’t forget about the other big North American carrier.

BA and AA flying to more countries than LH and DL respectively comes to me as a huge surprise

"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?

“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.”

Congrats to Turkish, I guess? Maybe they need to figure out how to provide decent customer service next…

@Tim Done

“Among the “big three” US carriers, United flies to 73 countries, American flies to 62 countries, and Delta flies to 59 countries”

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

Little brother syndrome in evidence.

"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.

It all comes down to the breadth vs density of a route network. There are advantages of both approaches

I wonder where Ethiopian fits in?

You mean girth? Something you lack.

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).

lololololol that's all you can say? pathetic

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.

They love boasting about their route network but have quite literally among the worst customer service of any full service airline.

You should know that seeking your approval is nowhere on my radar

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

We are well aware you actively seek everyone’s disapproval.

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.

Something that TK has in common with DL.

I imagine that Timbits is like a vienna sausage in this regard. Ironic because DL doesn't fly to VIE.

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.

It pretty much boils down to which airlines fly to more countries I never want to visit.

The very premium destinations of DTW/SLC/MSP/ATL that make up a majority of DL's traffic and profits.

I am surprised no one has asked 'what is a country' for the purpose of this?
e.g.: Is Hong Kong different than China? Is Taiwan?
Is Puerto Rico, Guam, US Virgin Islands, etc. different from the USA?
Are the French Territories in the Pacific part of France? Tahiti, etc.?
Are the British Territories around the world part of the UK? Virgin Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, etc.?
I want to know what is a country!

Per the carrot, soon a US carrier…

I am surprised. I have some ideas

Air New Zealand flies to 10 countries.
Qantas flies to 12-17 countries.
Fiji Airways flies to 9 countries.

My guess would be Turkish Airlines and Singapore Airlines.

Turkish Airlines and Singapore Airlines fly to almost 90 countries.

Of course, anywhere DL flies is considered a premium destination. So, all of its destinations are premium. As for airports, the most premium as in ultra premium would be Atlanta for the U.S. and ICN for a non-U.S. airport.

What does that mean?

Or “what’s an airline”? Does KLM’s CityHopper division count as part of KLM? If it does, is Air France-KLM one airline or two? If it’s actually one, what about all the members of IAG? Or all the Lufthansa Group airlines?

And what does fly to somewhere mean? Do seasonal routes count? Or should there at least be several flights a week? Or does service once a year count? Or some frequency between?

And what does “somewhere” mean? Are London Heathrow and London Gatwick serving the same single destination? What about JFK and Newark — one destination or two? Or, if you’re only counting countries, does Basel-Mulhouse airport (in Switzerland but operated under a treaty between France, Germany and Switzerland) count as one country or two (or three)?

Like most games of Top Trumps, it all depends what categories you’re comparing.

TK has a good product in business , but after sales / customer care is absolutely awful if something goes wrong.

TK sucks.
They fly many small / narrow body aircraft so of course it’s easy to fly to many cities / countries!
It’s no biggie.
Duh.

AFKL and LHG should each count as one airline, I'm less sure with IAG as the level of integration is a bit lower there (e.g. sales are separate for BA and IB, unlike the other two airlines where everyone sells everything) but I'd still be inclined to say yes.

DELTA flies to the most countries!

Not surprised at all. Look at BA’s Caribbean countries served for example, at least 10. Now compare that to Lufthansa’s 1.

fraud.

No, Delta doesn't fly to the most countries nor do they have that as a goal.

They do generate the most revenue of any airline worldwide and also burn less fuel for every dollar of revenue generated and for every seat mile flown compared to many airlines and specifically AA and UA.

Nice appetizers in Business Class aside, TK has the worst worst customer service in the World. Their internet site is able to sell tickets..nothing else. It is a problem if any refund requests generated in the U.S. are directed to a single women's voice mail working in some cargo office at JFK. That process is, of course, met with absolute silence and no call backs or responses. TK has woefully under invested in back office technology. They grew too fast without making necessary investments other than their catering department.

I would add Ethiopian to this list. They deserve more credit for all the countries they fly to as well.

According to the Oneworld (and QF's own) website I posted below:

- Qantas flies to 25 countries (and 95 destinations) while
- Fiji Airways flies to 15 countries (and 26 destinations).

(See https://www.oneworld.com/members)
Also,
https://www.qantas.com/au/en/qantas-experience/international-flight-network.html

I am not sure where you are sourcing your information, but in this instance, it is incorrect.

How on earth Delta doesn’t fly to Singapore then? United can fill two frequencies and you can’t even get SFO-SIN one year out.

Delta doesn’t need Singapore service as much as you think it does.

Singapore is quite a premium destination. More revenue than anywhere else in Southeast and South Asia, though I admit Japan and maybe Australia might be more profitable for Delta.

I believe Ethiopian flies to 80 countries (excluding cargo services) so they would get third place

I think this may be outdated, I think they do fly to 80 countries last time I counted, since they added a couple recently too. So that brings them to third here