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?
I believe Ethiopian flies to 80 countries (excluding cargo services) so they would get third place
I would add Ethiopian to this list. They deserve more credit for all the countries they fly to as well.
DELTA flies to the most countries!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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...
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.
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.
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.
TK has a good product in business , but after sales / customer care is absolutely awful if something goes wrong.
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...
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 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.
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
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.
What does that mean?
"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?
My guess would be Turkish Airlines and Singapore Airlines.
Turkish Airlines and Singapore Airlines fly to almost 90 countries.
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).
Not surprised at all. Look at BA’s Caribbean countries served for example, at least 10. Now compare that to Lufthansa’s 1.
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.
Per the carrot, soon a US carrier…