Have you ever wondered what the world’s busiest airline routes are? OAG recently published this data for 2025, and I always find these lists to be quite interesting. Some people know exactly which route will be number one on the list, while others are shocked…
In this post:
What are the world’s busiest air routes by seats?
Let’s use OAG data and look at the world’s busiest airline routes for 2025, based on the number of available seats published in each market. Let’s first look at the busiest routes overall (all of which happen to be domestic), the busiest international routes, and then the busiest domestic US routes. Some may surprise you, while others may not.
The busiest airline routes in the world
Here are the 10 busiest airline routes in the world, including the number of seats available annually:
- Jeju (CJU) – Seoul Gimpo (GMP) – 14,384,766 seats
- Sapporo New Chitose (CTS) – Tokyo Haneda (HND) – 12,099,499 seats
- Fukuoka (FUK) – Tokyo Haneda (HND) – 11,496,706 seats
- Hanoi (HAN) – Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) – 11,078,775 seats
- Jeddah (JED) – Riyadh (RUH) – 9,819,558 seats
- Melbourne (MEL) – Sydney (SYD) – 8,951,497 seats
- Tokyo Haneda (HND) – Okinawa Naha (OKA) – 8,052,864 seats
- Mumbai (BOM) – Delhi (DEL) – 7,642,016 seats
- Beijing Capital (PEK) – Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA) – 7,454,950 seats
- Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA) – Shenzhen (SZX) – 7,138,673 seats
The busiest international airline routes in the world
Here are the 10 busiest international airline routes, including the number of seats available annually:
- Hong Kong (HKG) – Taipei (TPE) – 6,832,683 seats
- Cairo (CAI) – Jeddah (JED) – 5,753,491 seats
- Kuala Lumpur (KUL) – Singapore Changi (SIN) – 5,574,409 seats
- Seoul Incheon (ICN) – Tokyo Narita (NRT) – 5,069,779 seats
- Seoul Incheon (ICN) – Osaka Kansai (KIX) – 4,959,596 seats
- Jakarta (CGK) – Singapore (SIN) – 4,619,323 seats
- Dubai (DXB) – Riyadh (RUH) – 4,465,632 seats
- Bangkok (BKK) – Hong Kong (HKG) – 4,169,125 seats
- Tokyo Narita (NRT) – Taipei (TPE) – 4,021,181 seats
- New York (JFK) – London (LHR) – 3,971,000 seats
The busiest domestic US airline routes
Here are the 10 busiest domestic US airline routes, including the number of seats available:
- New York JFK (JFK) – Los Angeles (LAX) – 3,431,159 seats
- New York LaGuardia (LGA) – Chicago O’Hare (ORD) – 3,334,011 seats
- Los Angeles (LAX) – San Francisco (SFO) – 3,306,223 seats
- Las Vegas (LAS) – Los Angeles (LAX) – 3,283,510 seats
- Atlanta (ATL) – Orlando (MCO) – 3,226,190 seats
- Denver (DEN) – Phoenix (PHX) – 3,118,880 seats
- Honolulu (HNL) – Kahului (OGG) – 3,045,165 seats
- Los Angeles (LAX) – Chicago O’Hare (ORD) – 2,793,178 seats
- Atlanta (ATL) – New York LaGuardia (LGA) – 2,763,776 seats
- Atlanta (ATL) – Fort Lauderdale (FLL) – 2,631,730 seats
My take on the world’s busiest airline routes
I think people are sometimes surprised by the world’s busiest airline route. Typically that’s for people who simply aren’t familiar with Jeju, but the explanation is quite simple, and the below video does a good job of covering the basics. The idea is that South Korea has a big population, Jeju is the most popular year-round vacation destination, and it can only be reached by air from most parts of the country.
What’s kind of wild is that demand in the market is still down around 20% compared to pre-pandemic, so the current number of passengers isn’t even a record. The market has over 100 flights per day, and it’s basically flight after flight. Just look at the departures board for Jeju currently, where you have 12 flights to Seoul Gimpo over the course of 30 minutes.
What’s my take on the busiest routes beyond that?
- It’s interesting how no international routes rank in the top 10 for traffic globally, with the world’s busiest international route having less than half of the traffic of the Jeju to Seoul Gimpo route
- New York to London is what people might think of as being a particular busy international route, though it’s also amazing how many routes we might overlook or not even think about, like Cairo to Riyadh
- It’s once again fascinating to see the traffic drop-off when looking at the busiest domestic route in the United States, as the highest traffic route has less than one quarter of the seats of the Jeju to Seoul Gimpo route
Bottom line
People are sometimes surprised to learn what the world’s busiest airline routes are, since they’re not necessarily what the average traveler might expect. For years, the market between Jeju and Seoul Gimpo has ranked number one by a long shot.
It’s noteworthy (but perhaps not surprising) how the 10 busiest routes are all domestic. It’s also interesting how no route within the United States ranks anywhere close to being among the busiest in the world.
Do any of the busiest airline routes surprise you?
(This has been flagged as a duplicate comment although it hasn't seem to have made it, so I'm reposting)
Reinforcing my own previous comment and those on similar lines, this blog is ostensibly obsessed with TAAG but hasn't reported on the filing of their first ever route to Asia, which I suspect (happy to be corrected by @SeanM or others with historical knowledge) also happens to be the first ever route between China and the West coast of Africa.
Hilarious that exceptionalism doesn't make the grade for the Septics.Meanwhile they still think the lead the world with highly gerrymandered stats like GDP which multi-counts rehypothecation and over-financialisation.
End of empire much ?
They're already well under 20% of global GDP even with their fiddled figures. When they emerge from the crash which will inevitably follow the AI bubble, they'll be completely irrelevant. From my perspective, it's a painful realisation for the rest of the West as we're looking down the abyss of a unipolar world with China calling the shots.
Ben - as someone else posted, it was in the media this week that the busiest North Am flight is YYZ-YVR.
How did you miss this?
Speaking of FLL, especially during winter, AC often operates widebodies from YYZ and YUL to FLL, usually a330 or 787, which is nice to have lie-flat up-front for those 3.5 hour flights, that is, unless you’re unlucky enough to get stuck on a Rouge a321 instead. The only disappointment is that AC operates from T2 at FLL, which is Delta’s terminal, while the only Star Alliance lounge (United Club) is at T1, and the terminals...
Speaking of FLL, especially during winter, AC often operates widebodies from YYZ and YUL to FLL, usually a330 or 787, which is nice to have lie-flat up-front for those 3.5 hour flights, that is, unless you’re unlucky enough to get stuck on a Rouge a321 instead. The only disappointment is that AC operates from T2 at FLL, which is Delta’s terminal, while the only Star Alliance lounge (United Club) is at T1, and the terminals are not connected airside. Wonder if that was by-design, in order to deny AC customers access… hmm.
It's worth noting that pretty much all of these routes are short-haul, except JFK-LHR, and arguably also JFK-LAX.
Welp. Other than DC-PHL-NYC-BOS, or MIA-FLL-PBI-MCO, it’s not like there’s high-speed-rail in N. America, unlike Europe or E. Asia. So, gotta fly, or drive forever.
Seems like if you counted the combined seats/flights between PHX and DFW/DAL it would be more than between PHX/DEN. Even without Love Field traffic I would have thought DFW/ATL traffic would have made the top ten too.
Did the GMP to Jeju flight summer about two years ago. They fly the 747 and it was pretty much packed. GMP and Jeju are packed. Felt like all of seoul was going at the same time. Just prepare yourself mentally for the crowds.
I just read the busiest North American route is Vancouver-Toronto.
Surprisingly… CMH didn’t make the list…
(Just getting started, buddy.)
Having done HKG-TPE on CI I was in awe that we were in a proper widebody (773) for a short flight. Wish we had this in the states!
Would be interesting to see this with city pairs rather than airport pairs. I would think ICN/GMP-CJU still wins. HND+NRT is a power combo too. But I think the Bay Area to LA would be up there. I asked ChatGPT about SFO,SJC,OAK to LAX,BUR,LGB,ONT,SNA and it estimated 14M seats for that pair.
3 mil between HNL & OGG. Those little 717s work hard!!!
For some reason that brings back childhood memories of flying from Maui to Oahu on vacation and seeing an astonishingly large amount of people carrying Krispy Kreme boxes. The Kahului Krispy Kreme has a racket.
Southwest's 737s certainly added a little capacity to the market.
I find all the traffic between DEN-PHX to be odd. Speaking of building high speed train lines. LAX-LAS and LAX-SFO should have been done decades ago.
all of the talk about "there should be a train" between US markets is usually met with the reality that few companies are willing to invest in rail that is fast enough and has enough capacity to serve major intercity points.
Governments have already built airports and airlines obtain the assets to transport people.
The marginal cost to take off the ATL-MCO or LAX-LAS traffic (even if geography makes construction easy which is often...
all of the talk about "there should be a train" between US markets is usually met with the reality that few companies are willing to invest in rail that is fast enough and has enough capacity to serve major intercity points.
Governments have already built airports and airlines obtain the assets to transport people.
The marginal cost to take off the ATL-MCO or LAX-LAS traffic (even if geography makes construction easy which is often not the case) is minimal. You are not going to save much from the cost of operating ATL or LAX or LAS to pull off a few routes worth of rail traffic - and that is why the economics never work if the government has to be part of the answer.
The US made the decision 80 years ago for intercity transportation to be via highways - the most extensive in the world - and air. It is simply too costly at current labor rates and there is minimal benefit other than some pollution reduction.
Why does rail have to be done by private companies? Why does rail have to turn a profit? The highways sure don't. Airlines have experienced 3 (three) bust periods in the past 25 years that resulted in either bankruptcies or bailouts, so forgive me if I find the idea that privatized intercity transport is workable long-term. Amtrak does incredibly well operating the Northeast Corridor. That should be expanded.
>The US made the decision 80 years...
Why does rail have to be done by private companies? Why does rail have to turn a profit? The highways sure don't. Airlines have experienced 3 (three) bust periods in the past 25 years that resulted in either bankruptcies or bailouts, so forgive me if I find the idea that privatized intercity transport is workable long-term. Amtrak does incredibly well operating the Northeast Corridor. That should be expanded.
>The US made the decision 80 years ago for intercity transportation to be via highways
An incredibly short-sighted decision that results in 40k~ unnecessary deaths a year, billions in property damage and medical costs to prime age workers, and microplastics and petrochemicals in our drinking water and food. To say nothing of the fact that it's utterly absurd that individuals should be forced to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a depreciating asset just for the privilege of participating in society.
>It is simply too costly at current labor rates
I'll care about the costs the day Republicans show they actually care about the national deficit. They haven't since HW Bush. They cut taxes AND increase spending, which tells me the money is made up and doesn't matter. So why shouldn't we spend the funny money to give people additional options to get from place to place? Better than spending it on Greenland, the Golden Dome, or Trump-class battleships.
did you get it all out?
extensive intercity rail is not happening in the US.
If that matters to you, there are lots of places in the world that will admit Americans.
Thank you, Dusty. Well said.
Tim, the areas that would benefit most from high-speed rail are places like Texas, ironically, between the major cities (think, DFW-AUS-IAH corridor); whether public, private, or a mix, it can be done, as seen in other red states like Florida with Brightline; so, feel free to try the culture-war thing, but it really isn’t that.
Extensive, maybe not, but there are definitely city pairs and regions that should be served by HSR in the US. CAHSR is getting built (sure it's too slow etc etc, but it is getting built). Will see when Brightline West actually gets going. Amtrak is profitable in the Northeast and they should absolutely to a real HSR along that corridor. TX. List goes on. It shouldn't need to rely on private companies (any companies would...
Extensive, maybe not, but there are definitely city pairs and regions that should be served by HSR in the US. CAHSR is getting built (sure it's too slow etc etc, but it is getting built). Will see when Brightline West actually gets going. Amtrak is profitable in the Northeast and they should absolutely to a real HSR along that corridor. TX. List goes on. It shouldn't need to rely on private companies (any companies would invest in building the interstates?) But Brightline has already shown in FL that rail+land business model can work in the US.
Don't ask about fares, because cost is no object on this blog. But I did check Seoul to Jeju, a flight of about an hour and 15 minutes, and round trip ranges from $35 to $57 (Korean Air) to more than $200 (some days, some airlines).
No. The top 100 flights in the world are all out of ATL, DTW & MSP and are operated by Delta. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Just wait until DL gets the A350-1000…gonna turbocharge that ATL-MCO route.
Suites…with DOORS!!!
Ben should be very careful.
The People's Republic of China is often very forceful of the view that HKG TPE is a domestic route, not international. J hope you won't be banned or worse.
Try using your visa for PROC (mainland, or Macau, Hong Kong, SAR) to enter ROC (Taiwan), or visa versa… then report back to us on whether it’s domestic or international…
It would be interesting to see an international list adjusted to combine multiple airports that share a metro area (LGW+LHR, NRT+HND, EWR+JFK, etc.). It would likely give a better picture of total air traffic between cities.
I was also thinking that for domestic US in terms of LAX-SFO; if you include LGB/BUR/ONT/SNA and SJC/OAK in that as coterminal you’d add a few million seats. That is a better view of the overall market. Interesting no matter what though!
10-15 years ago this list would have been quite different and included routes like HND-ITM (multiple 747-400Ds per day) and MAD-BCN (the GMP-CJU of its day). The development of high speed rail in these markets has obliterated the demand for flights, though of course it still exists. Not to mention growth in other markets has obviously impacted rankings. I’m curious how CGH-SDU ranks these days. I think in the past that route was also up...
10-15 years ago this list would have been quite different and included routes like HND-ITM (multiple 747-400Ds per day) and MAD-BCN (the GMP-CJU of its day). The development of high speed rail in these markets has obliterated the demand for flights, though of course it still exists. Not to mention growth in other markets has obviously impacted rankings. I’m curious how CGH-SDU ranks these days. I think in the past that route was also up there but passengers have more recently favored flying in/out of GRU or GIG.
The same goes for FCO-LIN, which has been incredibly busy (a departure every 15 mins during peak times), until most traffic between Rome and Milan was absorbed by high speed trains.
>ATL-MCO and ATL-FLL
Sigh... Just build the damn train already. Extend the Northeast Corridor HSR down through the Carolinas and Atlanta, and on down to Orlando.
That's only going to take 40 years and cost $250BN.
Do it now so it won't take 80 years and cost $750 billion when we start in 2050. At least this actually provides a benefit for a huge number of people in the US, as opposed to $700 billion to buy Greenland from Denmark.
Dusty gets it. Thank you.
WTF! The top ten doesn't include any US flights or USA airlines?? That's wild!
Would be curious as to why Jeju-Seoul isn’t suitable for high speed rail instead given the (relatively) short distance - presumably prohibitive topography?
Jeju is an island
Hmmmm yeah I wonder why it isn't "suitable"?
MAYBE BECAUSE ITS AN ISLAND 250KM OFF THE COAST OF MAINLAND JAPAN!?!
Are you "THINKING" ?? I guess NOT???
It’s an island 51 miles off the coast. That would be an expensive tunneling job
There have actually been on-again, off-again proposals to build a sea tunnel to link Jeju to the Korean high speed rail network. The issue always comes down to the cost, as compared against the reality that the route seems to have already peaked.
Wait till y’all learn about the Chunnel…
Speaking of busy routes… everywhere east of the Rockies is about to get walloped by this winter storm. Brace for IROPS.
Ego-centric Americans will be disappointed to find that most of the world's busiest routes do not touch the US; to no surprise, the busiest airline routes touch the most populous continent.
as for the list of the US' busiest routes, it is noteworthy which airline serves more of the top 10 and which airline - despite touting its global reach - is so small on the list of top 10.
Didn’t you mean to say… “ATL is busiest!” (Because, you know…)
Ben has already discussed busiest airports. This is about most routes. worldwide and in the US.
ATL, if I count correctly, is only represented in 3 of the 10 routes which is not bad considering how so many think Atlanta is still some backwater in the south.
but the ATL based airline flies 8 of the 10 busiest routes, which I believe is the highest of any US airline, and which also reflects how expansive their network really is.
I’m liking the sound of this ‘ATL based airline’ … hoping the ice stays away this weekend, but it’s looking dicey.
Chill out, liddle 1990. ATL is the second busiest airports in the world after LHR. Check your facts before you spew your irreverent (and maybe people are saying "TOTALLY FALSE" crap and "absurdities". Unless you're trying to send me some kind of a signal when you say "Because, you know..."?? That I know Atlantic is the busiest Airport us NA/SA and in fact AU/ME/AR/AN its only EU that has a higher volume Airport- LHR. And...
Chill out, liddle 1990. ATL is the second busiest airports in the world after LHR. Check your facts before you spew your irreverent (and maybe people are saying "TOTALLY FALSE" crap and "absurdities". Unless you're trying to send me some kind of a signal when you say "Because, you know..."?? That I know Atlantic is the busiest Airport us NA/SA and in fact AU/ME/AR/AN its only EU that has a higher volume Airport- LHR. And even ATL beats out CDG, MAD, AMS and FCO which make up the top five. Please think in the future before make such over the top posts! Thanks for your help!!!
Jessica, “thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Yes, for those that do minimal air or international travel, the average American for sure probably thinks the US with its population and widespread country would have something in the top 10. One of the biggest barriers for the US on top of the fact we are 300million+ vs 1 billion plus of China and India is the cost of air travel is much more than most other countries. We have near zero competition from...
Yes, for those that do minimal air or international travel, the average American for sure probably thinks the US with its population and widespread country would have something in the top 10. One of the biggest barriers for the US on top of the fact we are 300million+ vs 1 billion plus of China and India is the cost of air travel is much more than most other countries. We have near zero competition from trains, ferries, buses, etc to drive the air fare down, plus our gas is relatively cheap compared to other countries.
An excellent ’pot boiler’ Ben, I’ve added my click …. :-)
*click click* (mine, too!)
Where’s @UncleRonnie to complain?
The last sentence is the most interesting bit because it reveals the author's awareness of a blind spot. Anyone wanting to seriously focus on aviation/passenger experience blogging should probably be posting more about route development outside of N. America.
Spot on
Not sure it's a blind spot at all, the world's busiest domestic market having no internal routes in the top 10 is mildly surprising.
most of these routes are in non-English-speaking countries for people who are unlikely to read this blog anyway
Delta flies all of these flights.
Delta is actually all airlines, they're just in disguise. We're all just part of the conspiracy
Gotta get that Jeju water so they can look like their 30 forever....
Better yet, Fukuoka to Busan….
Is there any publicly available data on city pairs with multiple airports?
For example, I'm curious how Seoul-Tokyo would rank if we include the HND-GMP and HND-ICN routes, or how LA/SF-NYC or NYC-LON would rank if EWR were included.
EWR isn't even in New York. There is a reason why JFK will always remain the premier airport.
And flights like HND-ICN, are relatively thin, barely any flights, compared to the volume that is ICN-NRT