Dark/light mode (12/22/23) OAG, a leading data platform for the global travel industry, has released its latest report on the world's busiest air routes.
For the report, the busiest air routes are defined as those with the highest volume of scheduled air seats in 2023 and the data is for flights in both directions on each route.
The analysis is based on OAG global airline schedule data and provides an important overview of route performance and trends, both internationally and domestically.
Once again, Asia-Pacific has the busiest routes in the world, with 7 of the top 10 international routes and 9 domestic routes.
Latest OAG report highlights world's busiest air routes globally
The world's busiest international route is Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Singapore Changi (SIN) with 4.9 million seats, while Cairo (CAI) to Jeddah (JED) comes in second with 4.8 million of seats, up from 3.4 million in 2019, followed by Hong Kong. (HKG) to Taipei (TPE) in third place.
London Heathrow (LHR) is the fourth busiest global airport in the world this year with 49,370,859 seats, while Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) is in first place and Dubai International Airport (DXB) is in second place. .
Of the busiest domestic routes, Jeju International – Seoul Gimpo remains first in Asia Pacific with 13,728,786 seats.
The busiest domestic route in China for 2023 is from Beijing (PEK) to Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA) with 8.4 million seats, 3% more than in 2019 and 49% more than in 2022, both years in which that PEK-SHA was the busiest national route in China. Guangzhou (CAN) to Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA) ranks second with 7.2 million seats and Shenzhen (SZX) to Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA) ranks third with 7 million seats.
In the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, Jeddah – Riyadh is the busiest sector with 7,902,142 seats, in Latin America it is the São Paulo-Congonhas – Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont sector that tops the ranking with 5,759,732 seats, while Honolulu (HNL) with Kahului (OGG) is the busiest city in the US with 3,612,212 seats.
“Asia continues to have the world's busiest routes due to its popularity as a tourist hotspot,” said John Grant, chief analyst at OAG. “Although capacity has not returned to 2019 levels, London Heathrow remains a critical hub for global air travel.”
You can view the full report and even download the dataset on the OAG website here (link opens in a new tab/window).
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