THE BUSIEST FLIGHT ROUTES OF 2025

Welcome to OAG’s annual analysis of the world’s busiest flight routes, providing a comprehensive view of route performance and trends.

The Busiest Flight Routes of 2025 examines airline capacity across the world’s most popular air routes, using seat capacity data from January to December 2025 - powered by OAG’s Global Airline Schedules Data – we have ranked the busiest flight routes in the world. Also included:

• 2024 and 2019 capacity data to enable year-on-year (YoY) and pre-pandemic comparisons.
• Top domestic routes in China and the USA - the world's two largest aviation markets.
• *New for 2025* airfare data on the top routes, enabling a year-on-year comparison of lowest average one-way airfares ($).

So, let’s jump to the data and insights…

Nine of the Top Ten Busiest Routes operate in the Asia Pacific region.

The busiest airline route of 2025 is Jeju (CJU) to Seoul Gimpo (GMP):

• This route has 14.4 million scheduled seats in 2025, this is equivalent to almost 39,000 daily seats operating on this short sector of just 243 nautical miles.
• Capacity on the route is 1% above 2024 levels, but remains 17% behind 2019 levels.
• Seven carriers operate on this very competitive route.
• Airfares have dropped by 11% year-on year to $44 one-way.

The second and third placed busiest routes are both in Japan - which continues to maintain a strong position despite an extensive high speed rail network covering the country:

• Sapporo New Chitose (CTS) to Tokyo Haneda (HND) is in second place with a staggering 12.1 million seats in 2025; up 1% year-on-year and only 3% below pre-pandemic volumes, indicating near-full recovery.  
• Fukuoka (FUK) to Tokyo Haneda (HND) is in third place growing by 1% vs 2024 with 11.5 million seats scheduled in 2025, this exceeds 2019 levels by 1%, making it one of the few major domestic routes to surpass pre-pandemic capacity. 

Vietnam’s largest domestic route between Hanoi (HAN) and Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) is the fourth busiest route:

• 1 million seats were scheduled in 2025, a 4% increase in year-on-year and 8% above 2019 levels.
• This route is highly competitive with six carriers operating in 2025.
• Airfares on this route have decreased by 11% year-on-year with the average one-way ticket costing $67.

The fastest growing route in the top ten is fifth placed Jeddah (JED) to Riyadh (RUH):

• Saudi Arabia’s flagship domestic route between the two largest cities in the Kingdom is the only route in the top ten outside of Asia Pacific.
• The route has increased by 13% YoY with 9.8 million seats in 2025 - in line with overall domestic growth this year in Saudi Arabia - and is now 22% above 2019 levels.
• Average economy airfares have also increased year-on-year by 27% to $95 one-way. 
• Three airlines operate on this 460 mile route.

The busiest domestic route in China in 2025 remains Beijing (PEK) to Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA), with 7.5 million seats. While the route retains its top ranking, capacity has declined by 3% compared with 2024 and remains 8% below 2019 levels.

Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA) to Shenzhen (SZX) ranks second, operating 7.1 million seats in 2025. Capacity on the route has grown by 4% year-on-year and now sits 14% above pre-pandemic levels. Guangzhou (CAN) to Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA) ranks in third place with 6.4 million seats, although capacity has fallen by 9% versus 2024 this brings the route broadly back in line with 2019 volumes.

Several major north to south routes show stable YoY performance:

• Beijing (PEK) to Shenzhen (SZX) operated 5.6 million seats in 2025, remaining largely unchanged from last year but still 11% below 2019.
• Similarly, Chengdu (CTU) to Beijing (PEK) held steady at 4.6 million seats, although capacity on this route remains 26% below pre-pandemic levels.

The largest year-on-year increase within the Top 10 is on Chengdu (CTU) to Shenzhen (SZX), where capacity grew by 12% compared with 2024, placing the route in tenth position. Despite this growth, capacity remains 5% below 2019.

Guangzhou (CAN) to Beijing Daxing (PKX) operated 3.8 million seats in 2025 and is in ninth position. Although capacity declined by 8% YoY, volumes are significantly higher than in 2019, reflecting the establishment and rapid growth of Beijing Daxing International Airport. In contrast, Guangzhou (CAN) to Beijing (PEK) has similar capacity to 2024 but is 35% below 2019 levels, indicating a continued shift of capacity from PEK to PKX.

The busiest domestic route in the USA in 2025 is New York JFK (JFK) to Los Angeles (LAX), with 3.4 million seats. Capacity has grown by 9% compared with 2024, although it remains 20% lower than 2019 levels.  

New York La Guardia (LGA) to Chicago O’Hare (ORD) is in second place, with 3.3 million seats, 7% increase YoY. Despite this annual growth, the route is still 13% below 2019 levels.  

Los Angeles (LAX) to San Francisco (SFO) ranks third with 3.3 million seats, up 5% YoY;  however, the route remains 29% lower than 2019. 

Further down the rankings, the Denver (DEN) to Phoenix (PHX) corridor stands out with 3.1 million seats, only 3% lower than last year but a substantial 23% above 2019. By contrast, Honolulu (HNL) to Kahului (OGG) - the busiest US domestic route in 2023 -has fallen to seventh place, operating 3.0 million seats in 2025, a 10% reduction YoY; however, it is still 6% above 2019. 

SEATS

The busiest air routes are defined as those with the largest volume of scheduled airline seats in the year 2025. Data is for flights in both directions on each route. The annual Busiest Routes report is collated from the monthly Busiest Routes Right Now 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 cross-border aviation routes in each category. Historical capacity data for 2019 and 2024 has been used for comparison. Airfare data is calculated as the annual average of the lowest available one-way airfare at departure, with prices aggregated in the first week of December and reported in US dollars (USD$).