Fascinating: Highest Revenue Domestic Airline Routes In The US

Have you ever wondered on which routes airlines generate the most revenue? Okay, maybe you haven’t. 😉 But if you have, JonNYC flags an analysis that covers exactly this, and some of the routes may surprise you…

Highest revenue domestic US routes by airline

Courtney Miller from Visual Approach Analytics recently published an analysis with the top 10 domestic US markets by airline, based on publicly available data.

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This analysis is specifically of ticket revenue for the 12-month period from Q2 2024 to Q1 2025, and it doesn’t cover ancillaries, loyalty program revenue, etc. Furthermore, the revenue calculations are based on O&D (origin & destination) demand, so it’s a function of revenue of people traveling between two airports, regardless of whether they fly nonstop or connect.

To state the obvious, let me emphasize that revenue and profit are not the same, so this doesn’t tell us how profitable routes are, but rather, just how much revenue they generate.

I’d recommend checking out the full story, as it’s cool to see the top revenue markets for airlines ranging from Alaska, to American, to Avelo, and beyond.

Just to look at the “top five” markets of the big three carriers, let’s start with American:

1. JFK-LAX had $220 million in revenue
2. LAX-MIA had $176 million in revenue
3. LAX-PHL had $150 million in revenue
4. DFW-LGA had $148 million in revenue
5. DFW-LAX had $144 million in revenue

Next, let’s look at Delta:

1. JFK-LAX had $449 million in revenue
2. JFK-SFO had $252 million in revenue
3. ATL-LAX had $192 million in revenue
4. ATL-LGA had $178 million in revenue
5. ATL-LAS had $158 million in revenue

Lastly, let’s look at United:

1. EWR-SFO had $493 million in reveune
2. EWR-LAX had $384 million in revenue
3. ORD-SFO had $218 million in revenue
4. IAD-SFO had $194 million in revenue
5. EWR-LAS had $192 million in revenue

What stands out about high revenue domestic routes

Some of the highest revenue routes are exactly what people would expect. In particular, some version of a premium transcon route typically generates the most revenue, and on top of that, airlines are very strong out of their fortress hubs.

Looking at the “big three” US carriers, a few things stand out:

• It’s amazing how much ground American has lost in premium transcon markets, and the carrier’s JFK-LAX revenue is less than half of that at Delta, and JFK-SFO doesn’t even make the top 10
• United beats Delta on its premium transcon routes, though perhaps that’s not surprising, given that United has such a big hub at SFO
• It’s interesting how some of the top 10 routes are actually quite short; for Delta, it includes ATL-LGA and ATL-BOS, and for United it includes EWR-ORD and LGA-ORD
• Some of the top 10 routes for each airline catch me off guard; for example, DTW-MCO is number nine for Delta, and PHL-MCO is number 10 for American
• It’s impressive how many very high revenue routes United has; United’s number 10 route ranks above Delta’s number six route for revenue

The data is equally noteworthy for some of the smaller US carriers:

• Alaska’s number one route is SEA-PHX, and number two route is SEA-SAN
• JetBlue actually beats American in terms of revenue in the JFK-LAX market
• Perhaps it’s not too surprising, but Southwest’s top three routes are BWI-MCO, DEN-PHX, and SAN-SMF; that short intra-California route is what I wouldn’t have guessed

Bottom line

There’s some cool data on the highest revenue domestic routes within the United States. Some are exactly what you’d expect, while others aren’t. I find this to be really interesting both in absolute and relative terms. While this doesn’t give us a sense of profitability, it does tell us quite a bit about why airlines are so focused on certain markets, and just how much revenue they contribute.

What do you make of the highest revenue domestic US routes? Do any surprise you?