The 8 Most Lucrative Cities for Airlines
Jennifer Billock November 02, 2017
Airlines looking for the most business should be sure to fly out of these eight cities around the world.
Based on a study reported by Boarding Area, eight cities around the world are the most lucrative for airlines – meaning that the most premium cabin customers come from these locations. Here are the spots the study called out:
- London, with 4,200 premium passengers each way per day.
- Tokyo, with 2,500 premium passengers each way per day.
- New York, with 2,500 premium passengers each way per day.
- Hong Kong, with 2,300 premium passengers each way per day.
- Singapore, with 2,300 premium passengers each way per day.
- Paris, with 1,700 premium passengers each way per day.
- Seoul, with 1,400 premium passengers each way per day.
- Frankfurt, with 1,300 premium passengers each way per day.
What this study also shows is that OneWorld Alliance, which conducted the study, maintains the bulk of slots at these major airports, meaning that competitors have a limited amount of space to get in on the air business at those hubs. Essentially, airlines who want to get a foothold in those markets have to try and do so from airports that aren’t preferred by visitors heading to those cities.
It’s important also to note that OneWorld is not the major air alliance at each of these stops. SkyTeam, which Delta is a part of, and Star, which United is a part of, both do bigger business in the city than OneWorld, which uses Philadelphia as the main transatlantic gateway. OneWorld includes major airline American in its roster.
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The raw number of J seats ARR/DEP an airport does not equate to lucrative. If anything, one could hypothesize such inventory could create competitive pressure and keep prices low. The data needed to make such a claim (i.e., lucrative) is something that is closely guarded. High-yield pricing into a high seat volume airport would be what I would be looking at if I'd been tasked with this analysis.
"It’s important also to note that OneWorld is not the major air alliance at each of these stops." What are you talking about? London and Hong Kong are dominated by British Airways and Cathay Pacific, respectively. Last time I checked, BA and CX were members of OneWorld. JAL also has a significant presence in Tokyo (though I believe ANA is slightly larger).
I am sorry, but you significantly distorted the information from the source article. You wrote: "... OneWorld, which uses Philadelphia as the main transatlantic gateway." There is no claim about that in the original article (nor it is correct); rather: "In fact American now describes Philadelphia as its transatlantic gateway ..." (not the main one!) You wrote: "What this study also shows is that OneWorld Alliance, which conducted the study, maintains the bulk of slots at these major airports, ,,," The original article says: "While oneworld is well-represented in four of the top eight premium hubs,,,," Also, you wrote: "Essentially, airlines who want to get a foothold in those markets have to try and do so from airports that aren’t preferred by visitors heading to those cities." The source suggests that conclusion only about London: "So if you want to compete for the London market you have to do it from airports Londoners don’t want to fly from."