February's Busiest Airline Routes Dominated by Asia Pacific and Middle East

OAG's monthly aviation data highlights the global markets that are recovering and growing, the airlines leading the way, and the airports welcoming the most passengers.

Busiest International Airline Routes

In February 2023, the busiest international flight routes for seat capacity are mostly in Pacific Asia and the Middle East, with the Kuala Lumpur - Singapore Changi route out in front with 350, 640 seats, followed by Cairo - Jeddah on 320, 237 seats.

Click on the globe to spin and zoom in ⬇


Busiest International Flight Routes Infographic Feb 23

Busiest Domestic Airline Routes

Looking at key domestic markets, Beijing – Shanghai is the busiest domestic route in China for February 2023, with 600,139 seats - a 2% capacity increase.

In the US, the top route is LAX - Las Vegas, despite a 13% decrease - 278,839 seats.

Of the global top ten domestic flight routes, only two have increased capacity in February compared to January:

  • Melbourne – Sydney +6%
  • Beijing  – Shanghai +2%

More Worldwide Headlines from OAG's Monthly Data Analysis

  • Globally, the fastest-growing region for seat capacity this month is Central Asia, where capacity has reached 1.7m, up 18.2% on February 2019. 
  • China's Guangzhou Airport enters the  Global Top 10 Busiest Airports, moving from 11th place to 6th in February.
  • In the US, American Airlines adds 888,498 seats, a 5% increase in capacity.
  • The largest country market in South East Asia is Indonesia, with 8,975,064 seats, while Vietnam is the only country to have reached above 2019 levels.
  • China's big three airlines - China Eastern, China Southern, and Air China - are all now recovered, operating more domestic seat capacity compared to February 2019 levels.