According to CIA, there are ~45,500 airports in the world, of which ~16,000 are in the USA alone. Airports can be military, private owned, or commercial. Many commercial airports do not have regular passenger flights operated by commercial airlines, but there are ~10,000 worldwide that do. Most commercial airports service domestic flights only, and International airports (that have customs and border control facilities) are ~1200 worldwide. Only a small subset of those airports are equipped with runways and facilities to accommodate large airliners, like Airbus 380 or Boeing 787.

(By: Skytrax, 2024)

1. Doha (DOH)
2. Singapore (SIN)
3. Seoul (ICN)
4. Tokyo Haneda (HND)
5. Tokyo Narita (NRT)
6. Paris (CDG)
7. Dubai (DXB)
8. Munich (MUC)
9. Zurich (ZRH)
10. Istanbul (IST)

(million International seats per month)

1. Dubai (DXB) 4.7
2. London Heathrow (LHR) 3.6
3. Seoul Incheon (ICN) 3.3
4. Singapore (SIN) 3.2
5. Amsterdam (AMS) 2.9
6. Istanbul (IST) 2.8
7. Hong Kong (HKG) 2.7
8. Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) 2.6
9. Doha (DOH) 2.6
10. Bangkok (BKK) 2.5

(millions of passengers per year, domestic and international)

1. Atlanta (ATL) 93.7
2. Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) 73.4
3. Denver (DEN) 69.3
4. Chicago O'Hare (ORD) 68.3
5. Dubai (DXB) 66.1
6. Los Angeles (LAX) 65.9
7. Istanbul (IST) 64.3
8. London Heathrow (LHR) 61.6
9. Delhi (DEL) 59.5
10. Charles de Gaulle Paris (CDG) 57.5
11. JFK New York (JFK) 55.3
12. Las Vegas (LAS) 52.7
13. Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS) 52.5
14. Miami (MIA) 50.7
15. Madrid (MAD) 50.6
16. Haneda Tokyo (HND) 50.3
17. Orlando (MCO) 50.2
18. Frankfurt (FRA) 48.9
19. Charlotte (CLT) 47.8
20. Mexico City (MEX) 46.3
21. Seattle (SEA) 46
22. Phoenix (PHX) 44.4
23. Newark (EWR) 43.6
24. San Francisco (SFO) 42.2
25. Barcelona (BCN) 41.6
26. Houston (IAH) 41
27. Jakarta (CGK) 38.8
28. Mumbai (BOM) 38.3
29. Toronto (YYZ) 36.4
30. Boston (BOS) 36.1
31. Doha (DOH) 35.7
32. Bogotá (BOG) 35.4
33. São Paulo (GRU) 34.5
34. Ho Chi Minh (SGN) 34.3
35. London Gatwick (LGW) 32.8
36. Singapore (SIN) 32.2
37. Fort Lauderdale (FLL) 31.7
38. Jeddah (JED) 31.6
39. Munich (MUC) 31.6
40. Antalya (AYT) 31.2
41. Sabiha Istanbul (SAW) 30.8
42. Minneapolis (MSP) 30.6
43. Cancún (CUN) 30.5
44. Manila (MNL) 30.3
45. Jeju (CJU) 29.7
46. Rome Fiumicino (FCO) 29.3
47. Orly Paris (ORY) 29.2
48. Sydney (SYD) 29.1
49. La Guardia (LGA) 29
50. Bangkok (BKK) 28.8

(average number of scheduled flights, domestic and international, per day)

1. Dallas (DFW) 887
2. Chicago (ORD) 832
3. Denver (DEN) 822
4. Atlanta (ATL) 807
5. Guangzhou (CAN) 722
6. Charlotte (CLT) 689
7. Shanghai (PVG) 680
8. Tokyo (HND) 629
9. Istanbul (IST) 618
10. Los Angeles (LAX) 607
11. Delhi (DEL) 598
12. Amsterdam (AMS) 577
13. Dubai (DXB) 575
14. Phoenix (PHX) 562
15. Shenzhen (SZX) 561
16. London (LHR) 560
17. Chengdu (TFU) 558
18. Beijing (PEK) 553
19. Orlando (MCO) 545
20. Jakarta (CGK) 543
21. Kunming (KMG) 522
22. Miami (MIA) 520
23. Houston (IAH) 510
24. JFK (JFK) 504
25. Las Vegas (LAS) 496
26. Kuala Lumpur (KUL) 490
27. Seoul (ICN) 486
28. Paris (CDG) 478
29. Xi'an (XIY) 476
30. Chongqing (CKG) 474
31. Frankfurt (FRA) 473
32. Newark (EWR) 470
33. Singapore (SIN) 465
34. Peking (PKX) 465
35. Madrid (MAD) 458
36. Bombay (BOM) 456
37. Bangkok (BKK) 455
38. La Guardia (LGA) 451
39. Bogota (BOG) 448
40. Seattle (SEA) 439
41. Toronto (YYZ) 436
42. Hangzhou (HGH) 418
43. Boston (BOS) 412
44. San Francisco (SFO) 411
45. Manila (MNL) 407
46. Mexico City (MEX) 400
47. Washington (DCA) 397
48. Sydney (SYD) 393
49. Hong Kong (HKG) 381
50. Fort Lauderdale (FLL) 370
51. Shanghai (SHA) 368
52. Ho Chi Minh (SGN) 364
53. Barcelona (BCN) 349
54. Wuhan (WUH) 345
55. Rome (FCO) 338
56. Bangalore (BLR) 336
57. Jeddah (JED) 334
58. Nanjing (NKG) 333
59. Munich (MUC) 324
60. Doha (DOH) 321
61. Minneapolis (MSP) 319
62. Changsha (CSX) 318
63. Melbourne (MEL) 313
64. Haikou (HAK) 313
65. Zhengzhou (CGO) 312
66. Detroit (DTW) 311
67. Philadelphia (PHL) 305
68. Bangkok (DMK) 297
69. Istanbul (SAW) 294
70. Riyadh (RUH) 293
71. Taipei (TPE) 290
72. Salt Lake City (SLC) 278
73. Qingdao (TAO) 274
74. Chengdu (CTU) 272
75. Vancouver (YVR) 272
76. Cancun (CUN) 271
77. Xiamen (XMN) 269
78. Tokyo (NRT) 267
79. Lisbon (LIS) 263
80. Gatwick (LGW) 262
81. Guiyang (KWE) 260
82. Washington (IAD) 259
83. Sao Paulo (GRU) 258
84. Dublin (DUB) 255
85. Cairo (CAI) 255
86. Tampa (TPA) 253
87. Johannesburg (JNB) 253
88. Sao Paulo (CGH) 252
89. Urumqi (URC) 252
90. Orly (ORY) 250
91. Baltimore (BWI) 248
92. Moscow (SVO) 248
93. Fukuoka (FUK) 248
94. Nashville (BNA) 244
95. Harbin (HRB) 244
96. Brisbane (BNE) 241
97. Hyderabad (HYD) 240
98. Cheju (CJU) 240
99. Shenyang (SHE) 239
100. Hanoi (HAN) 237

• Adelaide (ADL)
• Brisbane (BNE)
• Cairns (CNS)
• Darwin (DRW)
• Melbourne (MEL)
• Perth (PER)
• Sydney (SYD)

ADL, CNS, DRW actually have few international flights, and for most practical purposes Australians travel internationally via one of four airports: SYD, MEL, BNE or PER.

The following maps show international destinations that can be reached from/to one of the seven Australian international airports by direct non-stop flights. These destinations are considered hubs for stopover and connecting flights to other destinations etc. Maps do not include "Australian backyard" (Bali, Fiji, Vanuatu, etc) destinations.

When traveling between Australia and Europe/Americas your first departure segment out of Australia and last arrival segment into Australia will be along one of the flights shown in the those maps. Choosing one such flight determines the airlines available for the entire travel itinerary.