Taylor Swift Eras Tour: Map reveals why airlines are her biggest fans

Taylor Swift’s supporters are known for going to extreme lengths to follow the Eras Tour around the globe. However, with travellers preparing to travel across continents and more than 3000 kilometres for a show, there’s a reason why the star’s biggest fans are international airlines.

“If Taylor Swift isn’t coming to Chile, Chile will come to Taylor Swift.”

So the LATAM banner proclaimed in capital letters, above departures at Santiago Airport.

Enthusiasm for the pop star couldn’t be dampened by the fact her nearest concert was 1000 kilometres away, on the other side of South America.

Despite Swift’s 85 chart appearances in Chile, her Eras Tour bypassed the country for Argentina and Brazil – much to the delight of Chilean airline LATAM.

It’s not only in South America where fans are expected to travel enormous distances to catch the tour and fork out for international flights.

This weekend, Swift kicks off the Australasian leg of her world tour, with seven shows in Melbourne and Sydney.

With 620,000 concertgoers inbound over the next 10 days, many will be arriving from other states or internationally.

Last June, Air New Zealand announced it had added 14 flights to its existing services to cope with demand from Kiwi fans.

With Auckland’s Eden Park snubbed in its bid to host shows because of resource consent restrictions, airlines are cashing in on the Taylor travel boom.

More than 20,000 combined seats are booked to Melbourne and Sydney over the dates of the Eras Tour on Air New Zealand alone. With 60 additional Qantas flights put on to service regional Australia, Swift is the best thing to happen to Australasian air travel since Christmas and the summer holidays.

New Zealand can claim to have one of the most dedicated Taylor Swift fanbases in the world, having given her five No 1s and 195 chart appearances. But it cannot claim any of the 80-plus Eras Tour concerts.

France, meanwhile, where she has never had a No 1, is hosting six shows in Lyon and Paris.

That means a country where her average chart position is 115 is hosting the same number of concertgoers as Australia.

Air Asia celebrated Taylor's power to move her fans (and book flights) with a special Swift livery in 2014. Photo / AirAsia

The country with the most overlooked Swifties might be the Philippines.

Filipinos are arguably the biggest Taylor Swift fans in the world. With nine No 1s in the streaming charts and 230 chart appearances, the Philippines is second only to the US for record playback. Despite the country being home to 115 million people and the Manila metropolitan area containing more people than New York, Swift is bypassing the Philippines for Singapore.

After huge demand, three extra shows were added to the Eras Tour, bringing the total to six nights at the Singapore National Stadium. There are now 330,000 concertgoers heading to the city state, which is home to just 5m people and is two-thirds the size of Auckland.

After tickets went on sale in July last year, one Filipino fan told the Straits Times he had spent $3600 on travel from Manila after securing tickets.

“I’ve never been to Singapore but [I’d do] anything to see Taylor Swift,” he said.

While fans in Southeast Asia and New Zealand are understandably miffed, their airlines are delighted.

Budget airline AirAsia, which celebrated a huge uptick in travel for 2014′s Red Tour with a custom Taylor Swift A320 livery, is set to cash in again when the Singapore shows begin next month.

Si Taylor no viene a Chile... LATAM cashed in on Taylor Swift fans from across South America. Photo / Thomas Bywater

American carrier United Airlines marked its special friendship last year with a Taylor Swift bracelet advert.

“Ready for your next era? Let’s go,” proclaimed the TV ad, which said more than 100,000 fans flew to concerts on United.

It was a nod to the fact that Swift obsessives share “friendship bracelets” at concerts, but it’s the airlines who are undoubtedly in Taylor’s squad.

It’s nice to have a friend.