Hong Kong-Taipei is the busiest international route, according to a report released Tuesday by aviation intelligence firm OAG.
The track — which last held that position in 2019 — tops the list again despite seat capacity remaining 15% below pre-pandemic levels, according to OAG report.
Seven of the world's 10 busiest international routes are in the Asia-Pacific region, although seat capacity on many of these routes has yet to recover to 2019 levels.
However, two routes on the list – both in the Middle East – are showing significant growth since 2019. The second busiest route, Cairo to Jeddah, has about 5.5 million available seats, which is 62% higher than 2019 levels, according to OAG. .
The third busiest route – Seoul Incheon to Tokyo Narita – also showed significant growth (68%) from pre-pandemic levels. John Grant, senior analyst at OAG, said several factors explain why.
“First, as China's international market continues to recover slowly, airlines have been forced to allocate aircraft to other markets. Japan is a very popular destination at the moment,” he said. “Furthermore… a few new airlines have entered the market, including airlines such as Eastar and Air Japan. Finally… Haneda Airport is already full so the new capacity had to be transferred to Narita.”
The Kuala Lumpur-Singapore route, which was the busiest international route of 2023, moved to fourth place, with seat numbers down 3% from 2019 levels. The Bangkok to Hong Kong route, the seventh busiest route, also did not recover. In full, it remains 13% behind pre-pandemic capacity.
The New York-JFK to London-Heathrow route is the only route in the top 10 that lands in North America and Europe. On-road seat capacity rose 3% last year, to 4 million seats, according to OAG.
Flights from Latin America didn't make the top 10 list, but OAG says the region's busiest international route is the one connecting Orlando, Florida, to San Juan, Puerto Rico, with 2.3 million seats.
The most crowded internal roads
Domestic flight routes are much busier than international flights, in terms of scheduled seat volume.
The busiest road in the world is located in South Korea, connecting Seoul to Jeju Island. About 14.2 million seats were available on the road in 2024, equivalent to about 39,000 seats per day, according to OAG.
This is despite the fact that capacity on the route is still 19% below pre-pandemic levels, the company said.
According to the report, nine of the ten busiest domestic airlines for 2024 are located in the Asia-Pacific region.
The road connecting Hokkaido to Tokyo comes in second place, followed by another road in Japan – the road connecting Fukuoka to Tokyo Haneda.
China's busiest airline route connects its two largest cities – Beijing and Shanghai – with about 7.7 million seats, ahead of the 7 million seats traveling between Guangzhou and Shanghai.
Seats on the latter route have fallen from 2023 levels, according to OAG, in what Grant described as a “re-adjustment” to 2019 schedules.
“During the epidemic, domestic Chinese airlines redirected… international capacity to domestic services, and this route saw a significant increase,” he said. “What we are seeing now is a realignment of capacity to more normal levels as Chinese airlines slowly return to more international services.”
The biggest growth on this list is in Saudi Arabia, with seats on the route connecting Jeddah and Riyadh increasing by 9% from 2019.
The busiest internal roads by region
The busiest route in Africa connects Cape Town in South Africa and Johannesburg (5 million seats) and in Europe, Barcelona in Spain to the island of Mallorca (2.9 million seats).
The busiest route in the United States connects Atlanta and Orlando (3,474,713 seats), but the busiest route in North America is the route in Canada connecting Vancouver and Toronto (3,498,835 seats).
Clarification: This story has been updated to reflect the exact number of seats on the Atlanta-Orlando route.
