Four Arab cities have featured in the list of the busiest airline routes in 2024, according to new data.
Hong Kong (HKG) to Taipei (TPE) emerged as the busiest international airline route in 2024 with 6.8 million seats. In 2023, it ranked as the third busiest route, although it held the top spot in 2019, travel data provider OAG said.
The capacity on this route grew by 48 percent compared to the previous year, yet it remains 15 percent lower than the levels seen in 2019.
Taking second place in the list is Cairo (CAI) to Jeddah (JED) with 5.5 million seats. Airline capacity on this route grew 14 percent above 2023 levels and 62 percent higher than 2019, data showed.
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In third place was Seoul Incheon (ICN) to Tokyo Narita (NRT) with 5.4 million seats (only 58,818 or -1.1 percent) seats behind second place). Capacity on this route has increased by 30 percent compared to 2023 levels and is 68 percent higher than 2019.
Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Singapore Changi (SIN) was the busiest international airline route in 2023. It is in fourth place in 2024 with 5.4 million seats, just 28,293 (0.5 percent) behind third place. This route is still above 2023 levels by 10 percent and is just below 2019 levels by 3 percent.
The Dubai-Riyadh route stood sixth with 4,306,599 seats, an 8 percent increase compared to 2023 levels.
Bangkok (BKK) to Hong Kong (HKG) has moved up into the top 10 list in the seventh place with 4.2 million seats, a capacity increase of 29 percent compared to 2023 but still 13 percent behind 2019.
Top global airline routes
- Hong Kong – Taipei: 6,781,577 seats
- Cairo – Jeddah: 5,469,274 seats
- Seoul Incheon – Tokyo Narita: 5,410,456 seats
- Kuala Lumpur – Singapore Changi: 5,382,163 seats
- Seoul Incheon – Osaka Kansai: 4,982,769 seats
- Dubai – Riyadh: 4,306,599 seats
- Bangkok – Hong Kong: 4,201,802 seats
- Jakarta – Singapore Changi: 4,069,071 seats
- Bangkok – Singapore Changi: 4,033,344 seats
- New York JFK – London Heathrow: 4,011,235 seats
Busiest domestic routes
Among domestic routes, Jeju (CJU) to Seoul (GMP) remained the busiest with 14.2 million seats, equivalent to almost 39,000 daily seats. Capacity on the route was 3 percent above 2023 levels but still remained 19 percent behind 2019.
Eight of the top 10 busiest domestic routes were in Asia, including key trunk routes in South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, India and China, the report said.
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The route between Hokkaido’s Chitose Airport (CTS) to Tokyo Haneda (HND) was the second largest domestic route globally, with 11.9 million seats, which is a similar level to last year. Another key Japanese domestic route is the third largest, operating between Fukuoka (FUK) to Tokyo Haneda (HND) with 11.3 million seats, which is also relatively unchanged in capacity terms since last year.
Vietnam’s largest domestic route between Hanoi (HAN) and Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) is the fourth busiest domestic route globally with 10.6 million seats and Melbourne (MEL) to Sydney (SYD) is in fifth with 9.2 million seats. All of the top five busiest domestic routes in the world in 2024 remained unchanged on 2023 with the same ranking.
Here are the 10 busiest domestic airline routes:
- Jeju International – Seoul Gimpo: 14,183,719 seats
- Sapporo New Chitose – Tokyo Haneda: 11,931,572 seats
- Fukuoka – Tokyo Haneda: 11,335,551 seats
- Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh City: 10,631,435 seats
- Melbourne – Sydney: 9,217,377 seats
- Jeddah – Riyadh: 8,700,415 seats
- Tokyo Haneda – Okinawa Naha: 8,033,641 seats
- Mumbai – Delhi: 7,963,686 seats
- Beijing – Shanghai Hongqiao: 7,714,758 seats
- Guangzhou Baiyun – Shanghai Hongqiao: 7,010,321 seats
