THE BUSIEST FLIGHT ROUTES OF 2023

WHAT ARE THE WORLD’S BUSIEST AIRLINE ROUTES THIS YEAR?

Welcome to our annual review of the world’s busiest flight routes. The Busiest Flight Routes of 2023 explores data from January to December 2023, powered by OAG's Global Airline Schedules Data, to provide an overview of route performance and trends. 

Discover the busiest international and domestic flight routes worldwide, with comparison to 2019 and 2022. Additionally, we have included data on the largest aviation markets, China and the USA, by providing insights into the busiest domestic airline routes within these regions.

WHAT ARE THE BUSIEST GLOBAL INTERNATIONAL AIRLINE ROUTES OF 2023?


Busiest-International-Flight-Routes-2023-2
  • 2023’s busiest international airline route is Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Singapore Changi (SIN) with 4.9 million seats.
  • Cairo (CAI) to Jeddah (JED) is in second place with 4.8 million seats, there is just 2% capacity difference between first and second place.
  • Hong Kong (HKG) to Taipei (TPE) is the third busiest international route in 2023 with 4.6 million seats. This was the busiest route in 2019 and capacity has dropped by 43% since then.
  • Seoul Incheon (ICN) to Osaka Kansai (KIX) is the fourth busiest international route in 2023 with 4.2 million seats.
  • Half of the routes in the top 10 busiest international routes were not in the top 10 in 2019, these are:
    • Cairo (CAI) to Jeddah (JED), 2nd place
    • Seoul Incheon (ICN) to Osaka Kansai (KIX), 4th place
    • Seoul Incheon (ICN) to Tokyo Narita (NRT), 5th place
    • Dubai (DXB) to Riyadh (RUH), 6th place
    • Bangkok (BKK) to Seoul Incheon (ICN), 10th place
  • Most routes in the international top 10 for 2023 have capacity ranging between 9% and 43% below their 2019 levels, but one route has capacity above 2019 which is London Heathrow (LHR) to New York (JFK), 1% ahead with 3.5 million seats.

BUSIEST INTERNATIONAL AIRLINE ROUTE | BY REGION


Listed below are the number one international airline routes per region, based on seats. Full top 10 rankings for each of these regions, plus further breakdowns, alongside the global busiest international and domestic routes rankings, is free to download -just click on the yellow button below for instant access.

ASIA PACIFIC

Kuala Lumpur - Singapore Changi | 4,891,952 seats.

EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

Cairo-Jeddah | 4,795,712 seats.

Latin America

Orlando - San Juan | 2,436,988 seats.

NORTH AMERICA

New York JFK - London Heathrow | 3,878,590 seats.

WHAT ARE THE BUSIEST GLOBAL DOMESTIC AIRLINE ROUTES OF 2023?


Busiest-Domestic-Flight-Routes-2023-2
  • The busiest domestic airline route of 2023 is Jeju (CJU) to Seoul (GMP) with 13.7 million seats, this was also the busiest domestic route in both 2019 and 2022. There is a 15% gap in capacity between first and second place on this list.
  • Compared to 2019, the CJU-GMP route has 21% less airline capacity this year.
  • In second place in our Top 10 is Hokkaido’s Chitose Airport (CTS) to Tokyo Haneda (HND) with 11.9 million seats.
  • Fukuoka (FUK) to Tokyo Haneda (HND) is the third busiest route with 11.3 million seats - there is only a 6% gap in capacity between second and third place.
  • Hanoi (HAN) to Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) is the fourth busiest domestic airline route in 2023 with 10.9 million seats and Melbourne (MEL) to Sydney (SYD) is the fifth with 9.3 million seats.
  • Jakarta (CGK) to Denpasar (DPS) is in tenth place and is the only route in the top 10 which did not appear in the top 10 in 2019.

CHINA’S BUSIEST DOMESTIC AIRLINE ROUTES 2023 | RANKED BY SEATS


KEY POINTS

  • The busiest domestic route in China for 2023 is Beijing (PEK) to Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA) with 8.4 million seats. That is 3% higher than 2019 and 49% more than in 2022 - both years in which PEK-SHA was the busiest domestic route in China.
  • Guangzhou (CAN) to Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA) is in second position with 7.2 million seats and Shenzhen (SZX) to Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA) is in third with 7 million seats.
  • There are three routes in China’s top 10 busiest domestic routes in 2023 which were not in the top 10 in 2019, these are:
    • Hangzhou (HGH) to Shenzhen (SZX), 6th place
    • Guangzhou (CAN) to Beijing Daxing (PKX), 7th place
    • Beijing Daxing (PKX) to Shenzhen (SZX), 10th place
  • Most of the domestic routes in China for 2023 have increased capacity compared to 2019, ranging from 3% to 31%. However, routes from Beijing (PEK) have decreased capacity by 16% to 43% due to the opening of Beijing Daxing (PKX) airport in September 2019.

USA’S BUSIEST DOMESTIC AIRLINE ROUTES 2023 | RANKED BY SEATS


KEY POINTs

  • Honolulu (HNL) to Kahului (OGG) is the busiest domestic route in the USA in 2023 with 3.6 million seats, just 3% more than Atlanta (ATL) to Orlando (MCO) in second place with 3.5 million seats.
  • Honolulu (HNL) to Kahului (OGG) was not in the top 10 busiest routes in 2019 and was third in 2022.
  • Las Vegas (LAS) to Los Angeles (LAX) is in third place with 3.5 million seats and New York (JFK) to Los Angeles (LAX) is in fourth place with 3.2 million seats.
  • There are three routes in the top 10 busiest domestic routes in the USA which were not in the top 10 in 2019, these are:
    • Honolulu (HNL) to Kahului (OGG), 1st place
    • Denver (DEN) to Las Vegas (LAS), 5th place
    • Denver (DEN) to Phoenix (PHX), 8th place
  • Los Angeles (LAX) to San Francisco (SFO) was the busiest route in the USA in 2019 but in 2023 it is in 6th place with 3.1 million seats, a 33% decrease in capacity compared to 2019.

BUSIEST DOMESTIC AIRLINE ROUTE | BY REGION


Listed below are the number one domestic airline routes per region. Full top 10 rankings for each of these regions, plus further breakdowns, alongside the global busiest international and domestic routes rankings, is free to download - just click on the yellow button below for instant access.

ASIA PACIFIC

Jeju International - Seoul Gimpo | 13,728,786 seats.

EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

Jeddah - Riyadh | 7,902,142 seats.

Latin America

São Paulo-Congonhas - Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont | 5,759,732 seats.

NORTH AMERICA

Honolulu - Kahului | 3,612,212 seats.

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RANKING METHODOLOGY


SEATS

The busiest air routes are defined as those with the largest volume of scheduled airline seats in the year 2023. Data is for flights in both directions on each route. The annual Busiest Routes report is collated from the monthly Busiest Routes reports, which are sourced from the OAG Schedules Analyser in the first week of each month. The data reflects the most recent year for the busiest scheduled domestic and international aviation routes in each category. Historical capacity data for 2019 and 2022 has been used for comparison.

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