Each six months I look at how well connected by air countries are to each other – the Flight Connectivity Index (FCI).  Previous updates - FCI 30 June 2009, FCI 31 December 2009,  FCI 30 June 2010, FCI 31 December 2010 and FCI 31 June 2011.

Flight Connectivity Index (FCI)

The Flight Connectivity Index (FCI) value is the number of other countries to which you can fly directly from a given country, based on published schedules of IATA airlines. Domestic flights do not count. To simplify the calculation, countries are defined as members of United Nations, as opposed to using one of the many other country lists available.

With South Sudan joining the United Nations in the past six months there are now 193 member countries of the UN, and the maximum FCI score is 192.  Germany is the country with highest FCI at the moment, at 111 (+1 from a year ago and the highest index I’ve yet recorded).  Four countries have no flights and FCI score of 0 – these are Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino.  The average FCI is 23.19, unchanged from December 2010.

Since the last update there has been the usual seasonal changes.  In the first half of 2011 most of the spring revolution countries (North Africa plus Syria) lost some connectivity.  In the second half of 2011 most of these countries saw normal air service resume.  Libya is the notable exception and in the past 12 months has seen the flight connectivity index reduce from 39 to just 10 – by far the biggest annual change in connectivity I’ve recorded to date (the next biggest annual change was Togo increasing their score by 10 in 2010).  Indeed, if we ignore the 2011 change in Libya’s connectivity the average FCI would be 0.30 higher.

More results after the jump.

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Each six months I look at how well connected by air countries are to each other – the Flight Connectivity Index (FCI).  Previous updates – FCI 30 June 2009, FCI 31 December 2009,  FCI 30 June 2010 and FCI 31 December 2011.  Since the last update there has been the usual seasonal changes, Turkey has become more connected while United Arab Emirates has partially reversed it’s ongoing growth in flight connectivity.   The effect of the spring revolutions has been seen with Egypt and Libya both losing some connectivity (5 and 4 countries respectively).

Flight Connectivity Index (FCI)

The Flight Connectivity Index (FCI) value is the number of other countries to which you can fly directly from a given country, based on published schedules of IATA airlines. Domestic flights do not count. To simplify the calculation, countries are defined as members of United Nations, as opposed to using one of the many other country lists available.

With 192 member countries of the UN, the maximum FCI score is 191.  Germany is the country with highest FCI at the moment, at 110 (unchanged from 6 months ago).  Four countries have no flights and FCI score of 0 – these are Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino.  The average FCI is 23.7, up 0.5 from December 2010 and up 0.03 from a year ago.

More results after the jump.

Read More…

Each six months I look at how well connected by air countries are to each other – the Flight Connectivity Index (FCI).  Previous updates – FCI 30 June 2009, FCI 31 December 2009, and FCI 30 June 2010.  Since the last update there has been the usual seasonal changes, United Arab Emirates continues it’s relentless growth in flight connectivity, and some poorly connected countries in Africa (Burundi and Sao Tome & Principe) and the Caribbean (Dominica and Haiti) lost some air routes to become even less connected.

Flight Connectivity Index (FCI)

The Flight Connectivity Index (FCI) value is the number of other countries to which you can fly directly from a given country, based on published schedules of IATA airlines. Domestic flights do not count. To simplify the calculation, countries are defined as members of United Nations, as opposed to using one of the many other country lists available.

With 192 member countries of the UN, the maximum FCI score is 191.  Germany is the country with highest FCI at the moment, at 110 (up 1 since June but unchanged from a year ago).  Four countries have no flights and FCI score of 0 – these are Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino.  The average FCI is 23.2, down 0.5 from June but up 0.9 from last year.

More results after the jump.

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A year ago I posed the question “which countries have flights to the most & least number of other countries?” to launch the Flight Connectivity Index at 30 June 2009.  An update of the Flight Connectivity Index at 31 December 2009 revealed significant seasonal shifts for some countries.  Since the last update, there have been some significant changes in the connectivity of some hard to reach countries.  For details, read on.

Flight Connectivity Index (FCI)

Before I post the stats, here is a quick recap of the index.  The Flight Connectivity Index (FCI) value is the number of other countries to which you can fly directly from a given country, based on published schedules of IATA airlines. Domestic flights do not count. To simplify the calculation, countries are defined as members of United Nations, as opposed to using one of the many other country lists available.

With 192 member countries of the UN, the maximum FCI score is 191.  Germany is the country with highest FCI at the moment, at 109 (down 1 since December but up 3 on last year).  Four countries have no flights and FCI score of 0 – these are Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino.  The average FCI is 23.7, up 1.4 since December and up 0.7 on last year.

More results after the jump.

Read More…

Six months ago I published the first Flight Connectivity Index (FCI) – a measure of how well connected by air every country is to every other country. The FCI value is the number of other countries to which you can fly directly from a given country, based on published schedules of IATA airlines. Domestic flights do not count. To simplify the calculation, countries are defined as members of United Nations, as opposed to using one of the many other country lists available.

Reduced flight connectivity overall

This is the first update of the Flight Connectivity Index. The average FCI has decreased from 23.0 to 22.3. This is partly due to seasonal patterns, but also partly due to the global recession and a couple of airline failures.

The full index will be posted separately. Here are the countries with the highest and lowest FCI scores as at 31 December 2009, with the changes from 30 June 2009 in brackets.

Selected 31 December 2009 FCI results

There are 192 member countries of the United Nations, thus the maximum possible FCI is 191 (because domestic flights do not count). No country has direct flights to all other countries – the highest FCI score is 110 for Germany. Four countries have a zero flight connectivity index – these are the small countries of Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino. The average across all countries is 22.3 (23.0 at 30 June 2009). The top 10 flight connectivity index values at 31 December 2009 are equal to or greater than 67 (68 at 30 June 2009), and the bottom 10 are equal to or less than 3. There are 58 countries with a FCI of 9 or less, 3 countries with a FCI of 100 or more (Germany, UK, France) and 17 countries with a FCI score of 50 or more. The countries with the highest and lowest FCI values are shown in the two tables below.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

For those interested here is the full listing of the Flight Connectivity Index (FCI) as at 30 June 2009.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

A factor in common for my own travel plans to visit every country, and also in the how to get to series, is that some countries have flight connections with lots of other countries while others do not.

I find it useful to have an idea of how well connected by air various countries are, and based on questions I often get I hope others will find it useful too.

Introducing Flight Connectivity Index (FCI)

To get a quick high level view I have calculated a Flight Connectivity Index (FCI) based on airline schedules at 30 June 2009. The FCI value is the number of other countries to which you can fly directly from a given country, based on published schedules of IATA airlines. Domestic flights do not count. To simplify the calculation, countries are defined as members of United Nations, as opposed to using one of the many other country lists available.

As airline schedules change I intend updating the calculation from time to time.

Selected 30 June 2009 FCI results

There are 192 member countries of the United Nations, thus the maximum possible FCI is 191 (because domestic flights do not count). No country has direct flights to all other countries – the highest FCI score is 106 for Germany. Four countries have a zero flight connectivity index – these are the small countries of Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino. The average across all countries is 23.

The top 10 flight connectivity index values at 30 June 2009 are equal to or greater than 68, and the bottom 10 are equal to or less than 3. There are 57 countries with a FCI of 9 or less, 3 countries with a FCI of 100 or more (Germany, France, UK) and 17 countries with a FCI score of 50 or more.

The countries with the highest and lowest FCI values are shown in the two tables below.

Full Flight Connectivity Index

I’ve posted the full Flight Connectivity Index at 30 June 2009.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.