# Cities underserved by international air links



## Skyprince (May 2, 2006)

I think *Mexico City * is one of the Most underserved cities in the world by international air links. 

For a city of such giant size, it's shocking that None of Middle East airlines are flying there.
Also none of Far East carriers flying there.
Mexico is an upper middle income country and I found many Mexicans love to travel , so its really shocking.


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## Yörch1 (Oct 31, 2006)

Well, almost every Mexican that travel that far has an American visa and it's really cheap and easy to fly to LA or Houston and then to the rest of the world. 

Occasionally, you can find flight from Mexico City to Houston/Dallas for only 99 USD.


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## NordikNerd (Feb 5, 2011)

Skyprince said:


> I think *Mexico City * is one of the Most underserved cities in the world by international air links.
> 
> For a city of such giant size, it's shocking that None of Middle East airlines are flying there.
> Also none of Far East carriers flying there.
> Mexico is an upper middle income country and I found many Mexicans love to travel , so its really shocking.


It's not a question about the size of the city, it's more about travel pattern. 










Mexico City has excellent connecting flights to North America, which has several direct flights to the Middle East, so there is no problem to get to Dubai with only one stopover.

I presume Mexico city is too close to the US in order to deserve a direct flight.
Also there are more immigrants from the Middle East living in North America compared to Mexico.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Mexico City is well connected with The Americas and Europe. On the other hand, Aeromexico has flights to Tokyo and Shanghai.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

From how I see it, *Manila / NAIA* is an example of this thread.

Though it is well connected within The Far East and The Middle East, the city only has one direct connection with Europe which is London via Philippine Airlines. And this is only recent. Other than London, it also has a direct flight to Istanbul via Turkish Airlines. It has no connections with Latin America and Africa.

Also, it is only Philippine Airlines that has direct flights to North America particularly LA, SF, NY, Toronto and Vancouver.

Delta Airlines is the only US airline that serves NAIA but only has direct flights to Tokyo and Micronesia.

Major European airlines such as British Airways, Air France and Lufthansa are absent.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

I think the large Chinese cities such as *Chongqing*, which has very few international flights for a city of 30 million.


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## NordikNerd (Feb 5, 2011)

hkskyline said:


> I think the large Chinese cities such as *Chongqing*, which has very few international flights for a city of 30 million.


I have never heard of that city before, but according to Wikipedia the Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport has direct flights to:

Helsinki, Rome, Osaka, Bangkok, Sydney and Singapore.

Even if many big cities like Mexico City, Manilla and Chongqing have few intercontinental flights, I dont see that these cities are underserved, when there are frequent connections to nearby airport-hubs like LAX or HKG.


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## Balikbayan (Jul 15, 2004)

Manila has a daily KLM flight to Amsterdam (one stop in Taipei). In the past this flight was even a nonstop!


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Balikbayan said:


> Manila has a daily KLM flight to Amsterdam (one stop in Taipei). In the past this flight was even a nonstop!


The thing is, it is no longer direct! Now, it is only Philippine Airlines with direct flights to London.


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## NordikNerd (Feb 5, 2011)

Manila-X said:


> The thing is, it is no longer direct! Now, it is only Philippine Airlines with direct flights to London.


According to momondo there is a direct flight Amsterdam-Manilla with KLM, but when you go to the KLM website it says that there is a stop, so I think
it's due to refueling because the flightime is 17 hours. Same thing with direct flights from Australia to LHR which displays as direct although they stop i Singapore for refueling, but it's the same aircraft carrying the passengers, meaning a direct flight could include a stop.


Your flight
✈Manila - Amsterdam
Wed 9 Dec 15
20:50
Manila, Ninoy Aquino Intl Airport, Philippines
KL 0808, Boeing 777-200 Operated by: KLM
+106:55
Amsterdam, Schiphol, Netherlands
Class: Economy
Remark: Please note that this flight has 1 stop
Total travel time: 17h05

Amsterdam - Manila
Mon 14 Dec 15
21:00
Amsterdam, Schiphol, Netherlands
KL 0807, Boeing 777-300 Operated by: KLM
+119:30
Manila, Ninoy Aquino Intl Airport, Philippines
Class: Economy
Remark: Please note that this flight has 1 stop
Total travel time: 15h30


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

NordikNerd said:


> According to momondo there is a direct flight Amsterdam-Manilla with KLM, but when you go to the KLM website it says that there is a stop, so I think
> it's due to refueling because the flightime is 17 hours. Same thing with direct flights from Australia to LHR which displays as direct although they stop i Singapore for refueling, but it's the same aircraft carrying the passengers, meaning a direct flight could include a stop.
> 
> 
> ...


Which I don't understand because the average flight time from Manila to Amsterdam is around 13 hours and 30 minutes. 

Manila to London is around 14 hours but no refuelling seems to be needed.

On the other hand, many Philippine Airlines flights from LA to Manila usually stop over at Honolulu for refuelling. 

This usually happens during X-Mas seasons as the volume of both passengers and cargo are higher.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

This is from last year but,

*PH still not ready for ‘open skies’*
by Chino Leyco
May 22, 2014

The national government is appealing to foreign airliners and enterprises engaged in travel pushing for “open skies” policy to be patient as Manila’s main gateway is not yet ready to accept additional arrivals, a Cabinet official said yesterday.

During the World Economic Forum on East Asia plenary session, Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima has personally told Malaysian budget-carrier AirAsia Chief Executive Tony Fernandez that Manila cannot commit to “open skies” policy just yet.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Also, Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the main airport serving Metro Manila can no longer be expanded. Plus its runway configuration is not with today's standards.

On the other hand, there have been plans of building a new international airport with two options.

One is Clark International Airport in Pampanga, an hour north from Metro Manila. It used to be a former base of The US Airforce now a special economic zone in which the airport is converted for commercial use.

The other option is to construct a major international airport at Sangley Point in Cavite which is closer to Manila but the cost would be more expensive as there will be land reclamation.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

NordikNerd said:


> I have never heard of that city before, but according to Wikipedia the Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport has direct flights to:
> 
> Helsinki, Rome, Osaka, Bangkok, Sydney and Singapore.
> 
> Even if many big cities like Mexico City, Manilla and Chongqing have few intercontinental flights, I dont see that these cities are underserved, when there are frequent connections to nearby airport-hubs like LAX or HKG.


The irony is the folks in 30-million strong Chongqing need to go to much smaller Hong Kong for international flights. That's under served in my opinion.


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## ChinaBRICS (Jul 10, 2015)

I think Buenos Aires is very underserved, but is mostly due to geographical reasons.
No direct flights are possible to Asia and Middle East.

Another problem is only big planes have range enough to go to Europe, so Spain is used as feeder.
Small planes only work for flights to South America from here.


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## ChinaBRICS (Jul 10, 2015)

Another city very underserved is Brasilia.
It's the capital of a 207.000.000 inhabs country, the most important of Latin America, yet it barely has flights to other capitals.
Brasilia has 2,5 million inhabs.


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## NordikNerd (Feb 5, 2011)

ChinaBRICS said:


> I think Buenos Aires is very underserved, but is mostly due to geographical reasons.
> No direct flights are possible to Asia and Middle East.



It's no surprise due to the city's remoteness to the rest of the world and the poor argentinian economy.

The 3rd longest non stop flight goes from Los Angeles to Abu Dhabi. 13.502km. Buenos Aires - Abu Dhabi would be 13 556km, so geographically it's possible, but Los Angeles is bigger, more influential, affluent and has more purchasing power.

Buenos Aires-Hong Kong is 18 464km it would be the new world record for the longest flight. Currently London-Auckland, NZ is the longest flight at 18 345km and this includes a stopover at LAX.


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## NordikNerd (Feb 5, 2011)

hkskyline said:


> The irony is the folks in 30-million strong Chongqing need to go to much smaller Hong Kong for international flights. That's under served in my opinion.


The irony is a city with a population of 30 million no one ever heard of.

To decide wether a city is underserved by international air links, I think that besides population, you have to include such factors as BNP, infrastructure, and global influence.

Among the most influencial cities in the world New York City is underserved with international air links, although a globally important city there are few direct flights from NYC to Africa and Asia.

Globally important cities like Hong Kong and Singapore have few (or any?)direct flights to the Americas.

The winner is London, UK with air links to over 180 destinations in 90 countries,


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

hkskyline said:


> The irony is the folks in 30-million strong Chongqing need to go to much smaller Hong Kong for international flights. That's under served in my opinion.


Chongqing despite its population is not a major global city compared to the likes of Guangzhou, Shanghai or Beijing.

Is HK the only hub where its residents can transfer? Can they go to Beijing or Shanghai?


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

NordikNerd said:


> The irony is a city with a population of 30 million no one ever heard of.
> 
> To decide wether a city is underserved by international air links, I think that besides population, you have to include such factors as BNP, infrastructure, and global influence.
> 
> ...


It is because of geography.

South East Asian airports will have direct flights to North America particularly in The West Coast.

JFK has some direct flights to Asia and various Asian carriers are present there.

It does have few direct flights to The African continent mainly to Egypt and South Africa.

On the other hand, Narita International Airport has one direct flight to Africa which is Addis Ababa.


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