Which countries have the most airports?
The OurAirports dataset lists every airport, heliport and seaplane base with a known location. Counted by country, it is a map of aviation infrastructure — and of how much of it is commercial. 86,258 airports247 countries 4,336 with scheduled service
Key findings
- US leads with 32,694 airports, followed by BR (8,099) and JP (3,747).
- Only 5.0% of airports in the dataset have scheduled commercial service — the rest are general aviation, private strips, heliports and military fields.
- The United States alone accounts for 37.9% of all entries.
Airports by country
| Country | Airports | Share |
|---|---|---|
| US | 32,694 | 37.9% |
| BR | 8,099 | 9.4% |
| JP | 3,747 | 4.3% |
| CA | 3,369 | 3.9% |
| AU | 2,795 | 3.2% |
| MX | 2,695 | 3.1% |
| RU | 1,839 | 2.1% |
| FR | 1,787 | 2.1% |
| GB | 1,610 | 1.9% |
| DE | 1,435 | 1.7% |
| KR | 1,427 | 1.7% |
| IT | 1,158 | 1.3% |
| AR | 1,009 | 1.2% |
| VE | 899 | 1.0% |
| PH | 856 | 1.0% |
Airport types
| Type | Airports | Share |
|---|---|---|
| small airport | 42,820 | 49.6% |
| heliport | 23,248 | 27.0% |
| closed | 13,574 | 15.7% |
| medium airport | 4,104 | 4.8% |
| seaplane base | 1,273 | 1.5% |
| large airport | 1,176 | 1.4% |
How to read this
A large count usually means a large country with many small general-aviation fields, not necessarily a busy aviation market. Scheduled service is the better proxy for commercial activity — and for the airports travellers actually search for.
Method
Counts from the OurAirports public dataset (public domain), by ISO country code and airport type. Data snapshot 2026.