OAG recently published their list of the world’s busiest international air routes for a period of 12 months ending in February 2018. These statistics are based on the number of flights operated between a particular city pair, so this list is different than the routes with the most seats. This just accounts for the number of takeoffs and landings between a given city pair.
So, what routes make the list, and just how frequent is service? Here’s the top 10 list:
- Kuala Lumpur to Singapore — 30,537 flights
- Hong Kong to Taipei — 28,887 flights
- Jakarta to Singapore — 27,304 flights
- Hong Kong to Shanghai — 21,888 flights
- Jakarta to Kuala Lumpur — 19,849 flights
- Incheon to Osaka — 17,488 flights
- Hong Kong to Incheon — 17,075 flights
- New York LaGuardia to Toronto — 16,956 flights
- Dubai to Kuwait — 15,332 flights
- Hong Kong to Singapore — 15,029 flights
As you can see, Asia dominates the list. The only non-Asian route on the list is New York to Toronto. Frankly I’m surprised that’s the highest frequency route outside of the region.
While I knew there were a lot of flight between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, I wouldn’t have guessed that this short 184 mile flight is the highest frequency city pair, and for that matter would have never guessed the number. 30,537 flights per year comes out to an average of about 84 flights per day. That’s over three flights per hour around the clock (though a majority of those flights are during the day, so sometimes you’ll see over a handful of flights per hour).
There are a couple of other interesting things to note here.
First of all, the international route with the most number of flights is different than the international route that carries the most passengers. The international route that carries the most passengers is actually Hong Kong to Taipei, and the difference is huge:
- Between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, 4,004,448 passengers were carried across 30,537 flights (an average of 131 passengers per flight)
- Between Hong Kong and Taipei, 6,543,995 passengers were carried across 28,887 flights (an average of 227 passengers per flight)
That’s not surprising when you consider that most flights between Hong Kong and Taipei are operated by widebody aircraft, while most flights between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore are operated by narrowbody aircraft.
Now, are you ready for the most surprising statistic of all? The world’s five busiest routes aren’t any of the above. Rather they’re all domestic routes. In 2017, the world’s five busiest routes in terms of number of flights were as follows:
- Seoul Gimpo to Jeju
- Melbourne to Sydney
- Mumbai to Delhi
- Tokyo Haneda to Fukuoka
- Rio de Janeiro to Sao Paulo
What’s even crazier is the number of flights operated in some of those markets. In 2017 there were 64,991 flights between Seoul Gimpo and Jeju, which is 178(!!!!) flights per day. Just to give an example of how many flights are operated in an hour, Korean Air alone operates flights at 1:10PM, 1:20PM, 1:30PM, 1:45PM, and 1:55PM.
I think the moral of the story here is that I need to visit Jeju.
Which of these route rankings surprises you most?
(Tip of the hat to TravelinWilly)
@john It’s been a while seeing you kind of bland trolls and easily feeling hurting Chinese on OMAAT
Take your BS elsewhile before you can use your ID to get to Hong Kong/Taiwan.
@john
notice that it's perfectly acceptable to do domestic travel in the US with a US passport
@James: When I first moved from Melbourne to Sydney in the early 90's, I always drove - but that was pre-deregulation of airfares and timetables. Prices between the two are only now approaching the same level as back in those days. Now like you, I'm living in London, and have grown used to European competition and pricing. A recent trip back home had me flabbergasted at the prices during peak travel times. It appears that...
@James: When I first moved from Melbourne to Sydney in the early 90's, I always drove - but that was pre-deregulation of airfares and timetables. Prices between the two are only now approaching the same level as back in those days. Now like you, I'm living in London, and have grown used to European competition and pricing. A recent trip back home had me flabbergasted at the prices during peak travel times. It appears that Qantas' retirement of the 7 dwarfs (ex BA-763's) and replacement with primarily 738's has reduced capacity on those 15 minute gaps between commuter flights.
@TravelinWilly: Melbourne to Canberra is about a 6.5 hr drive (without breaks), all but the last 60kms is on freeway conditions, Canberra to Sydney is a 3 hour drive, completely on freeway conditions. Tolls are payable on certain routes within greater Melbourne, and on each motorway route within greater Sydney. You can avoid tolls, but suburban traffic will significantly add to your travel time. There's enough things to do in Canberra to justify a weekend (think of it as a mini Washington DC).
For Melbourne to Adelaide, it is a solid 8 hour drive, with only the first 150 and last 100 kms on freeway conditions if following route M8 / A8 (Western Highway in Victoria / Duke's Highway in Sth Australia) and no tolls. The drive is fairly boring, so if you going to do it over 2 days, I'd recommend driving the Great Ocean Road (M1 to Geelong, B100 to Warnambool), and then following the A1 (Princes Highway) near the coast and B1 / B101 once crossing the border into Sth Aust, with the occasional diversion. Probably 12 - 13 hours driving, but a lot more to see.
Flights from China to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Maucau depart from “international” terminals, not domestic. Just an observation for those overly zealous!
I would imagine if you were watching humanity move on a grand scale the movement from the Northeast corridor (BosNYWash) to Florida would be pretty impressive as well.
i just looked at the flight schedule for a random Monday, GMP-CJU. Mind-blowing. And big planes too. It's a frickin military airlift, every day. Crazy.
I went to Jeju a few bears back, and found it a fascinating place. As it was explained to me, it's a huge honeymoon destination for Koreans (as it has the nicest weather), and also, due to cultural reasons that are opaque to me, is also considered the most liberal/relaxed place in Korea.
For example, on Jeju, there is not one, but two, "sex museums" on the island. One of which has a fascinatingly explicit...
I went to Jeju a few bears back, and found it a fascinating place. As it was explained to me, it's a huge honeymoon destination for Koreans (as it has the nicest weather), and also, due to cultural reasons that are opaque to me, is also considered the most liberal/relaxed place in Korea.
For example, on Jeju, there is not one, but two, "sex museums" on the island. One of which has a fascinatingly explicit sculpture park. Might be tame compared to what you can find in the US, but it's still something to see.
Maybe all that helps to explain so many flights?
I meant to write "...no passport issued by the Hong Kong authority is accepted..."
@Lars The last time I check, "for all practical purpose" (and also unpractical purpose), a passport issued by the Hong Kong authority is accepted for travel to mainland China or Taiwan. Likewise no passport issued by mainland China is accepted for travel to Hong Kong or Taiwan. And that's because, for all purpose - nevermind practical or unpractical - travel between Hong Kong and mainland China or Taiwan is regarded as a DOMESTIC travel, which...
@Lars The last time I check, "for all practical purpose" (and also unpractical purpose), a passport issued by the Hong Kong authority is accepted for travel to mainland China or Taiwan. Likewise no passport issued by mainland China is accepted for travel to Hong Kong or Taiwan. And that's because, for all purpose - nevermind practical or unpractical - travel between Hong Kong and mainland China or Taiwan is regarded as a DOMESTIC travel, which require a permit due to the political reality that one is a special administrative region of China while the other is a breakaway province. For all purpose - both pracitcal and unpractical - a passport can only be used for international travel, not domestic travel.
Lucky,
I am very surprised to read that "The international route that carries the most passengers is actually Hong Kong to Taipei"! Shouldn't the international route that carries the most passsenger be between Boston and New York. Afterall, there are so many education institutes in Boston such that a news report once said that during Thanksgiving, there are tons of international flights from Boston to USA - california, chicago etc and especially to New...
Lucky,
I am very surprised to read that "The international route that carries the most passengers is actually Hong Kong to Taipei"! Shouldn't the international route that carries the most passsenger be between Boston and New York. Afterall, there are so many education institutes in Boston such that a news report once said that during Thanksgiving, there are tons of international flights from Boston to USA - california, chicago etc and especially to New York. Surely among all these international Boston --> USA flight, one of them qualify as the busiest? Really don't understand why that fame to the busiest international route doesn't belong to Boston --> New York. Care to enlighten us?
@Hal It is physically impossible for China to invade Taipei, Taiwan, just as it was impossible for United States to invade Charleston, South Carolina. It is however very possible for the People's Liberation Army or Beijing to liberate Taipei, just as it was possible for the Union Army or Washington to liberate Charleston. You need to learn your history and geography, and understand that what was good for the United States being one nation indivisible,...
@Hal It is physically impossible for China to invade Taipei, Taiwan, just as it was impossible for United States to invade Charleston, South Carolina. It is however very possible for the People's Liberation Army or Beijing to liberate Taipei, just as it was possible for the Union Army or Washington to liberate Charleston. You need to learn your history and geography, and understand that what was good for the United States being one nation indivisible, is good for China too (or perhaps, you think Lincoln's Memorial should be torn down?)
@HK Chinese your assertion that you "will consider a flight that requires passing through a border control an International flight" is out of sync with how the rest of the world defines the word "international". If you think I am talking rubbish, you should try using your passport to enter mainland China or Taiwan, and see if they will accept your passport. As you yourself said, you used a permit to enter those two parts of China, not a passport. That's because a passport is meant for international travel and so it is invalid for domestic travel between Hong Kong and the Mainland or Taiwan.
The reason why a flight from Taipei to Hong Kong is considered an international flight is exactly the same reason why Marriott considered Tibet a country - a misplaced sense of superiority and arrogance on the part of westerners who fully understand the importance of "one nation indivisible" for their own countries, but will only change the way they view China when it hurts their pocket.
Living in Seoul now for 7 years. As everyone has said, Seoul GMP to Jeju is purely a domestic tourist route. Koreans go there year round for literally any and everything weekend/family/friend getaway.
If you fly on a weekend at peak time (after work, Sunday night) it’s always going to be 100$+ one way…which is WILD considering you can fly an LCC to Japan for less or the same price if you book it...
Living in Seoul now for 7 years. As everyone has said, Seoul GMP to Jeju is purely a domestic tourist route. Koreans go there year round for literally any and everything weekend/family/friend getaway.
If you fly on a weekend at peak time (after work, Sunday night) it’s always going to be 100$+ one way…which is WILD considering you can fly an LCC to Japan for less or the same price if you book it early enough.
There are 0 flights ICN-CJU. There used to be some for connecting passengers only, but now there aren’t. Same for ICN-Busan and Daegu. it’s only for connecting passengers and you need proof of a ticket.
Gimpo has amazingly convenient international service but it’s well worth the cost.
GMP-HND runs like 15 flights everyday in each direction. I can leave work on a Friday and arrive just one hour and a few minutes before departure with 0 lines and still complete check in and drop bags if I have to. I can enjoy a long weekend in Tokyo and then come back on a Monday and be at work at lunch time for my afternoon schedule.
It’s around 300$ sale price GMP-HND and I could fly for 250$ish to NRT….but it literally doubles my time getting to and from each airport….and when you add cost to and from NRT it doesn’t save too much money.
Haha, yeah Seoul to Jeju is simply insane. I once had dinner in a restaurant in Jeju with views of the airport, and there is a flight coming in every 5 minutes, probably 2/3rds of the flights coming from Seoul. I think there are at least 4 per hour from Gimpo and then about one per hour from Incheon.
I also love how you can just show up with your ticket for the low cost carriers and somehow always get a sear on the next flight...
@Donna
My bde cdr when i was in korea loved hiking. She flew to major mountains in korea almost every weekend and japan for a few 4 days. Of course mountain halla was one of her favorite spots.
Icn-gmp traffic is ignorable. Korean air used to operate coupe of flights daily but they discontinued due to lack of demand.
Gmp is used as a part time international airport since the "international only" icn has opened...
@Donna
My bde cdr when i was in korea loved hiking. She flew to major mountains in korea almost every weekend and japan for a few 4 days. Of course mountain halla was one of her favorite spots.
Icn-gmp traffic is ignorable. Korean air used to operate coupe of flights daily but they discontinued due to lack of demand.
Gmp is used as a part time international airport since the "international only" icn has opened in 2001for their 2002 world cup. Only "capital expresses" which connects the capital cities or "financial and political capitals" of china, japan, and taipei can be connected to gmp for business demands. Such as PEK, SHA, HND, KIX, and TPE. Using gmp saves at least 1 hr to access to the central seoul. The immigration lines not too crazy and its physically closer
@Adin there are websites to show you how it's done. There's a train between the two airports.
As the OAG map clearly shows, it's JFK-LHR that's the real standout: the only long-haul route to make the list, and with more than 3M pax pretty high up in terms of capacity (as opposed to frequency). If you added EWR and STN/LCY/LGW it would surely be in the top 5 capacity-wise.
More interesting data on that route: on both ends it's about 60% O&D (more surprising on the JFK side given that it's...
As the OAG map clearly shows, it's JFK-LHR that's the real standout: the only long-haul route to make the list, and with more than 3M pax pretty high up in terms of capacity (as opposed to frequency). If you added EWR and STN/LCY/LGW it would surely be in the top 5 capacity-wise.
More interesting data on that route: on both ends it's about 60% O&D (more surprising on the JFK side given that it's a weak hub), and the #1 connection destination out of LHR is LOS, #2 DEL.
Don't visit Jeju its a very domestic destination for South Korean's not that good
@yyc I was just able to search SYD, AKL to/from LAX, YVR. If the feature is broken, it's clearly not in all instances.
Hmm , I thought Jeju was in China . I recently saw advertising on the Bangkok Skytrain for Jeju "Special Autonomous Province " the autonomous province part is what me think it was in China . Also see a lot more Chinese people and Chinese influence in Thailand in recent years .
Interesting information about proliferation of air travel .
It surprises me there are more flights between Seoul and Osaka than between the former and Tokyo.
Of the international routes took:
* HKG to TPE (r/t Air China)
* ICN to KIX (Peach)
* HKG to ICN (HK Express)
* HKG to SIN (r/t United & r/t Cathay Pacific)
* BKK to HKG (Hongkong Airlines)
* ICN to NRT (Eastar Jet)
On the domestic:
* SHA to PEK (China Eastern)
Way back when, at the time of Varig, Vasp and Transbrasil, the cgh-sdu flight was called the air bridge. You could purchase a ticket from your favorite airline and board the first plane leaving, regardless of who was flying it.
Jeju is kinda overrated, like it is overcrowded and if you've been to nice places like the Seychelles, you will find the island relaly bland and boring and not that beautiful. That's my personal opinion because I've been to like Seychelles Mauritius and Zanzibar before I actually visited Jeju.
I remember being floored when I was searching flights to Taipei and learning that Cathay Pacific flies there up to 19 TIMES PER DAY! That's even crazier (to me) when you consider that CX only operates wide-body planes and EVA Air, China Airlines, and Hong Kong Airlines also operate in that market. Such is Southeast Asia I guess. The last flight I flew out of my home airport (GUC) had a whopping 8 people on it.
In other news...
@Lucky, ITA supposedly no longer supports searches that include multiple origin countries. I figure most readers here wouldn't care but I thought you should know.
The reason Jeju is so popular is that it is one of the few places outside of the mainland where Chinese nationals can go without a visa.
To all those who question about the definition of International flight between Hong Kong and Taipei/Shanghai and other cities in mainland China. As a Chinese living in Hong Kong SAR, China, I will consider a flight that requires passing through a border control an International flight, in which all the aforementioned flights qualify. You have to understand the complicated history of China to understand this situation: The conflict between mainland China and Taiwan after a...
To all those who question about the definition of International flight between Hong Kong and Taipei/Shanghai and other cities in mainland China. As a Chinese living in Hong Kong SAR, China, I will consider a flight that requires passing through a border control an International flight, in which all the aforementioned flights qualify. You have to understand the complicated history of China to understand this situation: The conflict between mainland China and Taiwan after a civil war that ends in 1949, with two different governments on either side of the Taiwan strait and the colonisation of Hong Kong by United Kingdom in 1841 with a lease of majority of lands (that include both the old and new airport) to United Kingdom in 1898 that expires in 1997. Although Hong Kong is a de facto China territory, and China (and part of Taiwanese) considers Taiwan as part of China , the practicality of traveling between those cities is similar to International flights. All International airports in China have domestic terminals, and International/Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwan terminals.
Legally, the status of Hong Kong citizen is different to those living in mainland China and we have different passports. But we don't use our HKSAR passport to enter China. Hong Kong Chinese use a special China entry permit to enter mainland China. Similarly, although we have to bring our HKSAR passport when we visit Taiwan, Hong Kong Chinese have to apply for a special Taiwan entry permit to enter Taiwan, unlike other passport holders. And our passports won't get a stamp, which will be on the print out of the permit. Nevertheless, Chinese or foreigners, we all need to exit Hong Kong before we can board all those "International" flights.
@Marija
Hong Kong has it's own immigration and customs, so flights from mainland China to HKG would for all practical purposes be international flights, and probably are considered as such for statistics etc.
Holy cow, I just noticed: LGA-YYZ is the only route in top 10 that best performing carrier is not above 85% on-time performance. Best performing airline is - wait for it - AA with astounding 59% on-time. 59??? No, weather in YYZ is not bad 41% of the time. ORD-YYZ is not all that much better either: 72% on-time for UA. Marginally "outdone" by KL and AA on LHR routes with about 77%.
English-speaking airports can't keep the schedule?
Jeju used to be THE honeymoon destination for koreans primarily b/c of its semi-tropical weather. But that's talking 80s and 90s. There are also cultural nuances that make the island different from the rest of Korea (different dialect to highlight) which makes it sort of a fascinating destination for Koreans. Not sure if regular tourists would pick up on such cultural differences. Now, a lot of school trips make it to Jeju (MV Sewol was...
Jeju used to be THE honeymoon destination for koreans primarily b/c of its semi-tropical weather. But that's talking 80s and 90s. There are also cultural nuances that make the island different from the rest of Korea (different dialect to highlight) which makes it sort of a fascinating destination for Koreans. Not sure if regular tourists would pick up on such cultural differences. Now, a lot of school trips make it to Jeju (MV Sewol was such a trip) and with the advent of LCCs, many koreans can afford to fly there for a wknd trip. Korea has done some serious marketing to promote jeju internationally (like it's one of the new seven wonders of the world, please), but it's nothing like the islands in SE Asia. It snows in jeju and it's not a party and beach destination. It was popular with chinese tourists too (esp for real estate investing) before the THAAD debacle. I don't think Jeju is an island Lucky would care for, judging from his previous trips and reviews.
If you include EWR - YTZ than New York - Toronto would be close to #1.
OAG also has HKG-PEK in addition to HKG-PVG on their "international" list. Hope they have good lawyers...
Surprized to see LHR-JFK so low and DXB-KWI so high... Then again YYZ being in there twice is also a fair surprise... especially seeing it is airport pairs, not city pairs. LGA-YYZ is accomplished by ONLY 3 carriers, which I find mindboggling and clear indication of NA airspace monopoly.
Iron grip of BA at LHR is also evident...
OAG also has HKG-PEK in addition to HKG-PVG on their "international" list. Hope they have good lawyers...
Surprized to see LHR-JFK so low and DXB-KWI so high... Then again YYZ being in there twice is also a fair surprise... especially seeing it is airport pairs, not city pairs. LGA-YYZ is accomplished by ONLY 3 carriers, which I find mindboggling and clear indication of NA airspace monopoly.
Iron grip of BA at LHR is also evident in anything that touches LHR... and the connecting/origin split at DUB/LHR pair is definitely head scratching...
I'm curious about areas with multiple airports. I'm sure Seoul to Jeju still wins, but what about Bay Area to LA (OAK, SFO, SJC to LAX, BUR, ONT, SNA)?
Really excellent work. Content is interesting, and gives me a lot of the industry news and analysis (outside of "product" stuff) that usually sends me to other websites. Keep up the good work.
I never realized Jeju was a “thing” when I was stationed in Korea in the Army many years ago. Lucky, you must go and report back to us if it’s goodness....
@henry LAX
He's definitely talking about the state governments and not the airlines that fly to those airports.... not sure how you construed it that way.
His point being those states (with their lack of infrastructure via high-speed rail, which is what he was talking about) are the ones you'd expect to be outdated and not two Asian tech cities.
Be more outraged about nothing, please...
Jeju is beautiful, and has interesting cultural stuff that has disappeared on the mainland. Lots of hiking and nature-focused stuff, so you'd probably enjoy it. Overwhelmingly a domestic tourist market on GMP-CJU. Foreign tourists would take flights directly to the island (easy service from China and Japan. AirAsia X even goes there.) Of course, GMP is an international airport, with plenty of connections to Japan and China -- not sure the technical details of which...
Jeju is beautiful, and has interesting cultural stuff that has disappeared on the mainland. Lots of hiking and nature-focused stuff, so you'd probably enjoy it. Overwhelmingly a domestic tourist market on GMP-CJU. Foreign tourists would take flights directly to the island (easy service from China and Japan. AirAsia X even goes there.) Of course, GMP is an international airport, with plenty of connections to Japan and China -- not sure the technical details of which international flights are allowed to operate to GMP.
Honestly, nothing on the list of busiest routes surprises me. These are all cities with important business links that don't have high speed rail service.
There are two airports in Rio de Janeiro( SDU, GIG), and. two airports in Sao Paulo( GRU, CGH). Does this data count for the four routes or what?
@Bin Wrong
Jeju does not have turquoise ocean like Guam but S Korea is quite up there from the equator to begin with and thus nobody expects it. It is still a beautiful island. (Check out Mount Halla, the highest mountain in S Korea.)
Lack of luxury resorts is a bummer--they just recently built a Marriott (not very luxury) and the Four Seasons and Grand Hyatt are in the pipeline. Hyatt Regency and Shilla are the luxury...
Jeju does not have turquoise ocean like Guam but S Korea is quite up there from the equator to begin with and thus nobody expects it. It is still a beautiful island. (Check out Mount Halla, the highest mountain in S Korea.)
Lack of luxury resorts is a bummer--they just recently built a Marriott (not very luxury) and the Four Seasons and Grand Hyatt are in the pipeline. Hyatt Regency and Shilla are the luxury resorts but they are somewhat dated at this point.
BTW if you were to visit CJU from GMP, look for KE 747. With KE/DL 6K miles you will even get an old first class (seat only).
According to the full report, 3% of Dubai-Kuwait flights (over 450 flights) were operated by the A350, which none of the four carriers operating the route have..?
What am I missing?
Curious what the total is if you include travel from ICN to Jeju in addition to GMP.
Why is China Airlines based in Taiwan? And Air China based in China?
@James - Thanks for the advice. What kills me is the cost of flying business class in Oz, so I usually end up using points, in this case we'll probably use Avios.
Another consideration under discussion is driving from Melbourne toward Adelaide on Day 1 , stay overnight half-way to Adelaide, and then on day 2 drive to the Adelaide airport and then from there flying to Sydney.
By the way, you're doing a...
@James - Thanks for the advice. What kills me is the cost of flying business class in Oz, so I usually end up using points, in this case we'll probably use Avios.
Another consideration under discussion is driving from Melbourne toward Adelaide on Day 1 , stay overnight half-way to Adelaide, and then on day 2 drive to the Adelaide airport and then from there flying to Sydney.
By the way, you're doing a great job here, both in terms of output as well as writing. I've seen a lot of snark directed at ALL writers here, and it's pretty obnoxious, so I'm hopeful you ignore all if it. And please keep up the great work.
@Owen : "That’s the sort of performance we expect from California or New York and New Jersey "
You mean the places that host 3 of the richest cities in the nation, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, that has the most proven premium-cabin transcon demand ??? You mean the JFK that Etihad flies their 3-room A380 residence into ??? You mean the LAX that airlines from all over Asia/Pacific, Middle East, and Europe are sending their state-of-the-art F cabins to ???
@Christian : your first statement is definitely true. but I have no idea why you think Fukuoka is some sort of "gateway" for (the bulk of) Honshu or Hokkaido.
even ignoring the fact that neither ANA nor JAL has a major hub there, the short distances between China/Korea and Japan negates any utility of FUK as a gateway based on geography.
the issue with this particular list is that it's based on airport pair, which significantly down-ranks city-pairs with multiple airports.
regarding this list ....
"
Seoul Gimpo to Jeju
Melbourne to Sydney
Mumbai to Delhi
Tokyo Haneda to Fukuoka
Rio de Janeiro to Sao Paulo
"
to be in-line with the rest of it, I'm *guessing* it should specifically mean Rio SDU to Sao Paulo CGH. and to my...
the issue with this particular list is that it's based on airport pair, which significantly down-ranks city-pairs with multiple airports.
regarding this list ....
"
Seoul Gimpo to Jeju
Melbourne to Sydney
Mumbai to Delhi
Tokyo Haneda to Fukuoka
Rio de Janeiro to Sao Paulo
"
to be in-line with the rest of it, I'm *guessing* it should specifically mean Rio SDU to Sao Paulo CGH. and to my previous point .... LAX-SFO is ranked #7 on that list but if you lump all of LA Basin airports to all SF Bay Area airports, it *should* easily be in the Top 5. (that matters a lot less for things like Tokyo-Fukuoka since I'm guessing NRT-FUK is gonna be thin to begin with)
@James: Fukuoka is on a different island than Tokyo, but theses two cities are connected by Shinkansen. It's a 5 to 6 hours trip by train and about 1,5 flying.
Fukoka is also a gateway into Japan from China, Korea, ... and there are lots of passengers connecting onwards to Tokyo.
Jeju is as bad as Hainan.
Don't bother.
Jeju island is one of the more popular tourist destinations in Korea, and airplane is the only practical way to reach there. It is also one of the few beach holiday spots in Korea. Seoul is not a coastal city so there is no ferry service from Seoul. No wonder it is one of the busiest routes in the world.
(This is around 250 mile flight yet we see quite a few widebodies flying...
Jeju island is one of the more popular tourist destinations in Korea, and airplane is the only practical way to reach there. It is also one of the few beach holiday spots in Korea. Seoul is not a coastal city so there is no ferry service from Seoul. No wonder it is one of the busiest routes in the world.
(This is around 250 mile flight yet we see quite a few widebodies flying including B747. Still there are hundreds of narrowbody flights out there.)
I think Japanese domestic flights could be the ones that carry highest number of passengera, given that most of Tokyo to Osaka/Fukuoka flights are widebody flights (including densely figured 777s).
I am still surprised that London to Paris/Amsterdam/Frankfurt is not there but it is probably because of LHR/LGW/STN/LTN separation.
@adin, Jeju is purely a domestic tourist destination. Frankly, it's nothing special, but it's the closest thing to a "tropical" island South Koreans have. Nothing even remotely as beautiful and as tropical as Okinawa or Guam. Flights are only from GMP because this is a purely nonstop domestic market.
The distinguishing characteristic of the really short but high frequency flights that dominate this list is water. There's no viable way to run Seoul-Ceju on high speed rail without building by far the world's longest underwater tunnel. (Korea-Ceju is 90km. The Chunnel is 38km and Seikan—the world's longest underwater passenger tunnel, running Honshu-Hokkaido—is 54km.)
High speed rail is cheaper and more reliable and has better capacities and is more environmentally sound and is more comfortable...
The distinguishing characteristic of the really short but high frequency flights that dominate this list is water. There's no viable way to run Seoul-Ceju on high speed rail without building by far the world's longest underwater tunnel. (Korea-Ceju is 90km. The Chunnel is 38km and Seikan—the world's longest underwater passenger tunnel, running Honshu-Hokkaido—is 54km.)
High speed rail is cheaper and more reliable and has better capacities and is more environmentally sound and is more comfortable for passengers at short distances (under 500km). In Europe, rail can dominate because, unlike in these Asian flights, cities are not often separated by oceans. That's why there are no European flights on these lists.
Some missing rail lines are disappointing, though. Malaysia and Singapore are tech hubs, but the rail line between them is old and slow. The first high speed plans and models were designed in the 1990s, but delays and incompetent leadership has delayed opening until at least 2026. It's uncharacteristic of those two governments to be so incompetent. That's the sort of performance we expect from California or New York and New Jersey.
Dublin to London would be high on the list if it had been done as city pairs, DUB-LHR alone was 14,390, enough for 14th on the list.
Last time I checked there was 96 flights a day but that will have only gone up.
The statement "flight HND-SHA is not international" carries far more truth than "HKG-TPE is not international"
There were days when HND-SHA was actually domestic. HKG-TPE never was.
I'm surprised at Singapore-KL because there is a great train that is 1) cheap and 2) very comfortable. I've done it several times in a first class sleeper cabin and it's a great ride. @RNS it's a much longer ride than Eurostar - I think that's the difference. But also a fraction of Eurostar price, and you even get a butler!
@kobe bryant - If you click the link, literally the first sentence of body text is "OAG takes a closer look at the Top 20 busiest international routes by frequency in the 12 months to
February 2018."
Bin must be some commie tool. Until China invades Taipei and installs it’s own government, Hong Kong to Taipei is definitely international.
I’m kind of surprised that all of the Seoul-Jeju flights are from GMP; there are currently none from ICN. How convenient is this for the Jeju tourists arriving in Seoul internationally?
@lucky if you go to CJU, be sure to check out Jeju Loveland :-)
@ TravelinWilly - I would fly. The drive from Canberra to Sydney isn't bad but Melbourne to Canberra drive is pretty long.
I'm surprised no US domestic routes make the top 5. And are we talking city pairs or airport pairs?
@James - Hoping you see this...would it make sense to drive from Melbourne to Canberra one morning, spend some time looking around the city, stay overnight and then drive to Sydney the next day vs. a 10-hour trip? Or would you just suggest just flying?
What makes Jeju so popular?
OAG is clever, they didn't mention "international" at all in this file.
Ben is a little Naïve....
HKG-PVG is also in this list ladies.
I'm a bit suprised BKK-HKG isn't in the top 10. Or, should I not be surprised? I just assumed it was one of the 10 busiest. Did it at least make the top 20?
The main reason Sydney-Melbourne is so high is because there is no high-speed rail service anywhere in Australia. Driving time is over 10 hour meaning a one hour flight is far preferable. I would never DREAM of driving between the two cities.
Tokyo-Osaka isn't in the top 5 because there is an efficient high-speed rail between the two cities. Fukuoka is on a different island to Tokyo.
Also Ben out of all those routes how many have you flown haven't you flown SYD-MEL,HKG-SIN and LaGuardia to Toronto you should also definitely go to Jeju
As someone that lives in Perth and very consistently travels to both Sydney and the Melbourne the amount of flights between the city is amazing and is always helpful for me when trying to get to Perth and I can just route through one or the other if there at none at the time I want to go back to Perth.
Hi Ben
Not relevant to this story, but could be an interesting issue to cover:
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/may/04/my-1000-macbook-air-was-stolen-at-airport-security-and-no-one-cares
Jeju doesn't surprise me at all. Its not a huge airport, and its very cool to see on a Sunday afternoon... widebody after widebody taking off for Gimpo. And at some periods, its almost impossible to get a seat...
OAG is about to incur the wrath of PRC.
I am from Mumbai, with family in Delhi.
Lived in Shanghai for 5 years, with travel around SH.
Now living in KL with work travel to SG, JKT and other cities mentioned above.
For me, the above is daily life. I do KL-SG every week, and honestly reminds me of my London-Paris or London-Brussels travel. If there was a Eurostar like service, I wouldn’t take the flight at all. KL airport is so...
I am from Mumbai, with family in Delhi.
Lived in Shanghai for 5 years, with travel around SH.
Now living in KL with work travel to SG, JKT and other cities mentioned above.
For me, the above is daily life. I do KL-SG every week, and honestly reminds me of my London-Paris or London-Brussels travel. If there was a Eurostar like service, I wouldn’t take the flight at all. KL airport is so far off, and the Subang airport is convenient but lacks frequency to SG.
Malaysia and Singapore’s government have planned for high speed rail, but years before it comes to fruitation.
At least the airports are nice, so makes transit slightly better. Except KLIA2 which is sad and overcrowded.
That's right Lucky. To do so would hurt the feelings of 1.3 billion people.
Hong Kong to Taipei should not be counted as International flight