OAG Travel News

Thousands of flights depart and arrive each and every day… but some routes are busier than others.  This week I decided to take a look at the Air Service Top 10 – the busiest routes in the world in terms of daily flights.

1. Seoul Gimpo International Airport, Korea (GMP) – Jeju International Airport, Korea (CJU)
Average daily flights: 159
Airlines: Five airlines provide this service; Korean Air is the market-share leader, operating 30 percent of total flights
Interesting note: The great circle distance between Seoul Gimpo and Jeju is 281 miles.


2. Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont Airport, Brazil (SDU) – Sao Paulo Congonhas Airport, Brazil (CGH)
Average daily flights: 125
Airlines: Three airlines provide this service; GOL and TAM each operate 45 percent of the flights, and OceanAir operates the remaining 10 percent
Interesting note: The average flight time between SDU and CGH is one hour.


3.    Tokyo Haneda Airport, Japan (HND) – Sapporo New Chitose
Airport, Japan (CTS)
Average daily flights: 119
Airlines: Four airlines provide this service; All Nippon Airways (ANA) is the market-share leader, operating 43 percent of the total flights
Interesting note: This is the busiest route between two islands – Tokyo is located on Honshu, and Sapporo on Hokkaido.


4.    Monte Carlo International Heliport, Monaco (MCM) – Nice Côte
d’Azur Airport, France (NCE)
Average daily flights: 117
Airlines: Two companies provide this helicopter service; Heli-Air-Monaco is the market-share leader, operating 80 percent of the total flights
Interesting note: This 11-mile route is not only the shortest of the Top 10, but the only one in the Top 10 that has scheduled service on a helicopter!


5.    Madrid Barajas International Airport, Spain (MAD) – Barcelona El
Prat Airport, Spain (BCN)
Average daily flights: 116
Airlines: Four airlines provide this service; Iberia is the market-share leader, operating 70 percent of the total flights
Interesting note: Iberia is the leading airline in terms of total flights at both MAD and BCN.


6.    Melbourne Tullamarine Airport, Australia (MEL) – Sydney Kingsford
Smith Airport, Australia (SYD)
Average daily flights: 116
Airlines: Eight airlines provide this service; Qantas is the market-share leader, operating 49 percent of the total flights
Interesting note: Ranked by total flights, Sydney ranks as the busiest airport in Australia, and Melbourne ranks as the second busiest.


7.    Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, India (BOM) –
Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport, India (DEL)
Average daily flights: 103
Airlines: Nine airlines provide this service; Jet Airways is the market-share leader, operating 22 percent of the total flights
Interesting note: This route has more competition in terms of number of airlines providing nonstop service than any other route in the Air Service Top 10.


8.    Kahului Airport, Hawaii, USA (OGG) – Honolulu International
Airport, Hawaii, USA (HNL)
Average daily flights: 98
Airlines: Four airlines provide this service; Hawaiian Airlines is the market-share leader, operating 63 percent of the total flights
Interesting note: Another route connecting two islands, this is also the only North American route included in the Air Service Top 10.


9.    Johannesburg OR Tamo International Airport, South Africa (JNB) –
Cape Town International Airport, South Africa (CPT)
Average daily flights: 96
Airlines: Six airlines provide this service; South African Airways is the market-share leader, operating 40 percent of the total flights
Interesting note: This is the longest route in the Air Service Top 10 – 788 miles separate JNB and CPT.


10.     Fukuoka Airport, Japan (FUK) – Tokyo Haneda Airport, Japan (HND)
Average daily flights: 92
Airlines: Three airlines provide this service; Japan Airlines is the market-share leader, operating 41 percent of the total flights
Interesting note: Tokyo’s Haneda Airport is the only airport to appear in the Air Service Top 10 twice!



Source: Official Airline Guide (OAG) Schedule Tapes for July 2009 only, unless otherwise noted; data is for all scheduled commercial flight operations between airports; distances are great circle distance.