LOL…perhaps we could we cover that whole area with two dozen runways and solve all our problems in one stroke? 
(BTW, if a mod wants to move this away from GQ, which it doesn’t really belong to any more, feel free 
)
Answering this sort of question requires one to define the terms. You can, of course, limit the results to international airports, but you might easily have a longer US domestic flight than many international flights within Europe. So that hardly seems fair.
Consider New York City again. Both JFK and LaGuardia Airports are within the city limits, so they definitely count. But lots of New Yorkers fly out of suburban airports and lots of people already live in the suburbs. So if you consider airports in the metro area, you have many aside from JFK and LGA:
MacArthur Airport, 51 miles
Westchester County Airport, 33 miles
Newark Airport, 19 miles
Stewart Airport, 73 miles
Teterboro Airport, 13 miles
Sikorsky Memorial Airport, 61 miles
The distances are from Grand Central Terminal as reported by Mapquest.com.
As far as I can see (although correct me if I’m wrong), Sikorsky and Teterboro have no scheduled services, which brings us back to six (oh, and another caveat, heliports don’t count )
I agree that US airports are at some disadvantage here - as an example, Gary International Airport, which is about 10 miles from where I live, has no scheduled international serivce. Yet it does have regular service to Florida and Nevada (among other places) which are both well over 1,000 miles away. In Europe, I don’t think you can go 1,000 miles in any direction in most of their countries without crossing an international border (at least not until you get to the Russian Federation) yet in the US such flights are domestic.
Right now, the only scheduled passenger service in the Chicago area of any sort is at O’Hare, Midway, Gary, and Rockford (if you count Rockford as being part of the Chicago metro area - and that’s starting to be a stretch.
However, if you consider “airports of entry” where flights originating in foreign countries can land and pass through customs, in addition to O’Hare, Midway, and Gary we also have Palwaukee, Waukegan, and DuPage. So if you defined “interantional” as “US customs available on field” then we have six in our area. Up until its closure, Meigs field also had customs agents on hand, for seven. I did exhaustively look at all airports within 50 miles of Chicago’s center, just the ones I was pretty sure would have US customs on the field, so it’s possible I missed one.
Post #6, I acknowledged that America is perhaps something of an exception.
And I thought I’d made it clear that we were talking about scheduled services?
Ah… but I was quibbling… and you said quibbles were good
I should also point out that the US has more pilots in sheer numbers and more pilots per capita than any other country in the world. It is more common for both individuals and corporations to do their own flying on their own schedule than to use scheduled airliners. Although we certainly do have use for scheduled international service, I think the fact that a person such as myself could go down to a local airport, rent an airplane for under $100 an hour, or less than $300 per day, and fly myself and family to Canada, Mexico, or the Carribean might reduce the size of the need for scheduled services. Hence, we may have fewer airports serving international routes than, say, the UK but more airports lacking scheduled service where, nonetheless, US customs agents are readily available to serve those folks doing their own flying.
So, while the US certainly has a lot of airplanes and airline activities I would NOT expect any US city to rank “tops” for having scheduled international service any way you slice it. Except, perhaps, Atlanta Hartsfield or O’Hare might move more in sheer numbers of people across international borders, but you did say “flights”, not “warm bodies” (Those quibbles again!)
Los Angeles has:
Los Angeles International Airport
Ontario International Airport
Long Beach Airport (which has cross-country but not international service)
John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana (ditto)
Bob Hope Airport in Burbank (flies as far as Hawaii and Chicago)
Um, perhaps you need to define ‘associated’.
I lived in London for 30+ years and have opinions on what constitutes a ‘London’ airport…
-
To get to Heathrow (W of London), I took the tube (= subway). From where I lived (NE London suburb) it took me 90 minutes.
I suppose urban sprawl has reached Heathrow.
OK, Heathrow is in. -
Gatwick is reached by going to South London and then taking an express train further South for 15 minutes.
OK, I concede Gatwick is ‘associated’ with London. -
**London City ** is definitely in London. Not a big provider of flights, though.
Now for the dodgy ones… -
‘London’ Luton is in Bedfordshire.
Yes you can get a direct train into London. You can get a train into London from Scotland too. That does not make Scottish airports part of London. -
‘London’ Stansted is in Essex.
You can get a direct train into London, or into Birmingham. So is Stansted the airport of choice for Birmingham?! -
‘London’ Southend. Oh, for goodness sake. This is a seaside resort, over 20 miles form London.
Yes, there is a direct train service into London, which takes 40 - 50 minutes. Is that included under your definition? -
‘London’ Ashford. I’d never heard of this one, but it’s called London.
Journey time to London by car: 80 minutes. -
Southampton (in Hampshire, on the South coast) has an international airport and a direct train service into London. Shall we rename it?
SO there are 7 airports using the name ‘London’, but I think only 3 qualify.
In case you hadn’t noticed, not everyone lives in the centre of London. There’s people in London for whom Stansted, Luton, even Southend is the closest airport. For many Londoners, one of these is under 20 minutes drive away. (Plus, Gatwick isn’t fifteen minutes from ‘south London’, but from Victoria, slap bang in the middle. And there’s a 20 minute express to Heathrow.)
Stewart is Newburgh, for Pete’s sake. That’s almost like counting Tampa-St. Pete for Miami!
BTW, “Tri-State area” Dopers? Who or what is Teterboro, which used to be mentioned as #4 after LaGuardia, Idlewild (as it was then) and Newark?
Teterboro is a general aviation (as opposed to commercial flights) airport that’s used by a lot of people and corporations. I included it because I remember reading that it has a large number of landings and take-offs. BTW, I believe it’s operated by the Port Authority, along with JFK, LGA and Newark.
As for Stewart Airport, I included it because when it was converted from a military base, it was being promoted as an alternative to the existing crowded New York airports. I don’t know if that’s happened.
Well I admit I am being somewhat ‘centrist’. :eek:
(Mind you, I can’t believe anyone in London lives closer to Southend than to London City.)
I already accepted Heathrow + Gatwick as London airports, but you’re right that Victoria is central (though surely Nelson’s Column is ‘slap-bang in the middle’!).
But there are many people on my railway line in the East Midlands (Birmingham - Stansted) who would naturally travel to Stansted. How come it’s not an ‘East Midlands’ airport? (And I know there is already one with that name!).
Incidentally the Heathrow Express is a bit expensive (£13 single - about $24); there is a £14 return, but with the conditions:
Valid after 13:00, must return before midnight on same day of travel.
That was a short flight!!
Because it’s an East Anglian airport!