World's busiest passenger air routes
The following are lists of the world's busiest passenger air routes, based on various criteria.
By number of passengers
World
Top 10 global air travel busiest routes by origin-and-destination passenger volume, according to Amadeus :[1][2]
| Rank | City 1 | City 2 | 2012 Passengers (in millions) |
2011 Passengers (in millions) |
Distance[3] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Seoul | Jeju |
10.156 | 9.9 | 450 km |
| 2 |  Tokyo | Sapporo |
8.211 | 7.5 | 819 km |
| 3 |  São Paulo | Rio de Janeiro |
7.716 | 7.6+ | 366 km |
| 4 |  Beijing | Shanghai |
7.246 | 6.6+ | 1075 km |
| 5 |  Sydney | Melbourne |
6.943 | 7.0+ | 706 km |
| 6 | Tokyo | Osaka |
6.744 | 7.5 | 405 km |
| 7 | Tokyo | Fukuoka |
6.640 | 6.6+ | 883 km |
| 8 |  Hong Kong |  Taipei |
5.513 | 6.2+ | 780 km |
| 9 | Tokyo | Okinawa |
4.584 | 4.1 | 1554 km |
| 10 |  Johannesburg | Cape Town |
4.407 | 4.5 | 1271 km |
Europe (2011)
- Busiest air routes inside the EU, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway *
Data retrieved from Eurostat[4]
| Rank | Airport 1 | Airport 2 | Passengers (2011) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Madrid/Barajas | Barcelona/El Prat | 3,102,436 ** |
| 2 |  Toulouse/Blagnac | Paris/Orly | 2,322,456 |
| 3 | Nice/Côte d'Azur | Paris/Orly | 2,236,436 |
| 4 |  Catania/Fontanarossa | Rome/Fiumicino | 1,842,940 |
| 5 |  Frankfurt | Berlin/Tegel | 1,792,655 |
| 6 |  Oslo/Gardermoen | Trondheim/Værnes | 1,749,545 |
| 7 | Munich | Hamburg | 1,717,734 |
| 8 | Oslo/Gardermoen | Bergen/Flesland | 1,691,887 |
| 9 | Berlin/Tegel | Munich | 1,667,408 |
| 10 | Barcelona/El Prat | Palma de Mallorca/Son Sant Joan | 1,639,423 |
| 11 | Madrid/Barajas | Palma de Mallorca/Son Sant Joan | 1,604,853 |
| 12 | Frankfurt | Hamburg | 1,587,593 |
| 13 | Munich | Düsseldorf | 1,569,364 |
| 14 |  London/Heathrow |  Dublin | 1,556,111 |
| 15 | Milan/Linate | Rome/Fiumicino | 1,524,433 |
| 16 | Rome/Fiumicino | Palermo/Falcone Borsellino | 1,499,933 |
| 17 | London/Heathrow | Frankfurt | 1,459,909 |
| 18 | Madrid/Barajas | Gran Canaria | 1,438,377 |
| 19 | Oslo/Gardermoen | Stavanger/Sola | 1,434,043 |
| 20 |  Amsterdam/Schiphol | London/Heathrow | 1,406,964 |
* Figures are only available for EU countries, Switzerland, Croatia, Iceland and Norway. Among other European countries, based on airport statistics, no other country than Russia, Ukraine and Turkey can have domestic routes with more than 1 million passengers.
Based on aircraft movements statistics, Istanbul/Atatürk - Izmir/Adnan Menderes is in 2012 possibly busier than Barcelona/El Prat - Madrid/Barajas route and Istanbul/Atatürk - Antalya route is busier than Toulouse/Blagnac - Paris/Orly route.[5]
The St-Petersburg Pulkovo Airport - Moscow (three airports) route was used by 2,965,331 passengers in 2013.[6]
**Madrid-Barcelona had 4,627,000 passengers in 2007, meaning a reduction by 34% in 2010, partly because of a new high-speed railway. The decline has continued from 560 weekly flights in 2010 to 380 in 2012.[5]
- Busiest air routes between an airport in Europe (EU, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway) and outside Europe
- [4]
| Rank | Airport 1 | Airport 2 | Passengers (2010) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | London/Heathrow |  New York/John F Kennedy | 2,551,276 |
| 2 | London/Heathrow |  Dubai/Intl | 1,974,098 |
| 3 | London/Heathrow | Hong Kong/Chep Lap Kok | 1,801,520 |
| 4 | London/Heathrow |  Singapore/Changi | 1,507,032 |
| 5 | London/Heathrow | Los Angeles/Intl | 1,419,144 |
| 6 | Paris/Charles De Gaulle | New York/John F Kennedy | 1,190,914 |
| 7 | Paris/Charles De Gaulle |  Montreal/Pierre Elliott Trudeau | 1,158,381 |
| 8 | London/Heathrow | Chicago/O'Hare | 1,138,579 |
| 9 | Paris/Orly | Guadeloupe/Pointe-à-Pitre | 1,098,322 |
| 10 | London/Heathrow | New York/Newark Liberty(NJ) | 1,091,804 |
United States (2013)
- Busiest air routes by city pairs within the United States [7]
| Rank | City 1 | City 2 | Passengers (2013) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  San Francisco, CA (Metro Area) | Los Angeles, CA (Metro Area) | 7,733,200 |
| 2 |  New York City, NY (Metro Area) |  Miami, FL (Metro Area) | 5,578,900 |
| 3 | New York City, NY (Metro Area) | Los Angeles, CA (Metro Area) | 4,493,900 |
| 4 |  Chicago, IL | New York City, NY (Metro Area) | 3,828,600 |
| 5 | Orlando, FL | New York City, NY (Metro Area) | 3,732,500 |
| 6 | New York City, NY (Metro Area) | San Francisco, CA (Metro Area) | 3,329,600 |
| 7 |  Boston, MA (Metro Area) |  Washington, DC (Metro Area) | 3,043,100 |
| 8 |  Seattle, WA | Los Angeles, CA (Metro Area) | 2,514,300 |
| 9 | .svg.png){kind=small} Atlanta, GA (Metro Area) | New York City, NY (Metro Area) | 2,495,100 |
| 10 |  Las Vegas, NV | Los Angeles, CA (Metro Area) | 2,418,200 |
Australia (2013)
- Busiest domestic air routes in Australia[8] (all passengers including connecting)
| Rank | Airport 1 | Airport 2 | Passengers (2013) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | .svg.png){kind=small} Melbourne |  Sydney | 8,244,000 |
| 2 |  Brisbane | Sydney | 4,425,000 |
| 3 | Brisbane | Melbourne | 3,198,000 |
| 4 | Gold Coast | Sydney | 2,559,000 |
| 5 | Melbourne |  Perth | 2,209,000 |
| 6 |  Adelaide | Melbourne | 2,195,000 |
| 7 | Perth | Sydney | 1,800,000 |
| 8 | Adelaide | Sydney | 1,751,000 |
| 9 | Gold Coast | Melbourne | 1,751,000 |
| 10 | Melbourne |  Hobart | 1,388,000 |
By seat capacity
The following lists the world's top 50 busiest routes based on total number of seats per month flown in both directions as of April 2014.
By aircraft movements
Busiest by air movements, September 2007
The following is a list of the worlds 25 busiest air routes based on the number of scheduled daily flights in both directions as of December 2013.[9] Note that these statistics do not consider the number of passengers carried. As of December 2013, Rio de Janeiro to São Paulo is the busiest route with 284 daily flights. 23 of the top 25 routes on the list are domestic routes. The busiest international route is Dublin to London (all airports), with 91 daily flights.
| Rank | City 1 | City 2 | Flights per day | Top Carriers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rio de Janeiro | São Paulo | 284 | Avianca Brazil, Gol Airlines, TAM Airlines |
| 2 | Jeju | Seoul | 209 | Air Busan, Asiana Airlines, Eastar Jet, T'way Airlines, Jeju Air, Jin Air, Korean Air |
| 3 | Melbourne | Sydney | 192 | Jetstar Airways, Qantas, Virgin Australia, Tigerair Australia |
| 4 | Chicago | New York | 184 | American Airlines, Delta Connection, Delta Shuttle, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, United Airlines, United Express |
| 5 | Fukuoka | Tokyo | 136 | All Nippon Airways, Air Nippon, Japan Airlines, Skymark Airlines |
| 6 | Sapporo | Tokyo | 128 | Air Do, All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines, Skymark Airlines |
| 7 | Los Angeles | San Francisco | 124 | American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Delta Connection, Delta Shuttle, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, United Express, US Airways Express, Virgin America |
| 8 |  Jakarta | Surabaya | 123 | Airfast Indonesia, Citilink, Garuda Indonesia, Indonesia Air Asia, Lion Air, Mandala, Merpati Nusantara Airlines, Sriwijaya Air |
| 9 |  Delhi | Mumbai | 119 | Air India, Air-India Express, GoAir, IndiGo, Jet Airways, SpiceJet, Air Vistara |
| 10 | Cape Town | Johannesburg | 116 | Comair, Kulula.com, Mango, South African Airways, South African Express |
| 11 | Osaka | Tokyo | 115 | All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines, Skymark Airlines |
| 12 | Atlanta | New York | 106 | Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines |
| 13 | Beijing | Shanghai | 100 | Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Spring Airlines, Juneyao Airlines |
| 14 | Brisbane | Sydney | 99 | Jetstar Airways, Qantas, Virgin Australia, Tiger Airways Australia |
| 15 | Los Angeles | New York | 98 | American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, Qantas, United Airlines, Virgin America |
| 16 | Dublin | London | 91 | Aer Lingus, Ryanair, British Airways, City Jet, Aer Lingus Regional, Flybe |
| 17 | Hong Kong | Taipei | 83 | Cathay Pacific Airways, China Airlines, Dragonair, EVA Air, Thai Airways International |
| 18 | Paris | Toulouse | 82 | Air France, easyJet |
| 19 | Brisbane | Melbourne | 72 | Alliance Airlines, Jetstar Airways, Qantas, Tigerair Australia, Virgin Australia |
| 19 | Fort Lauderdale | New York | 72 | Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, Spirit Airlines |
| 19 | Honolulu | Kahului | 72 | Hawaiian Airlines, Island Air, Go! |
| 22 | Miami | New York | 70 | American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, US Airways |
| 22 | Okinawa | Tokyo | 70 | All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines, Skymark Airlines |
| 24 | New York | Orlando | 69 | American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Delta Connection, JetBlue Airways |
| 25 | Las Vegas | Los Angeles | 68 | American Airlines, Boutique Air, Delta Air Lines, Delta Connection, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, United Airlines, United Express, Virgin America |
See also
- World's busiest airport
- World's busiest airports by traffic movements
- World's busiest airports by passenger traffic
- Busiest airports in Europe by passenger traffic
- List of the largest airports in the Nordic countries1
- List of the busiest airports in the Baltic states1
1 Includes very detailed statistics regarding busiest passenger air routes to/from and within this region
References
- ↑ "300 world ‘super routes’ attract 20% of all air travel, Amadeus reveals in new analysis of global trends". Amadeus. 16 April 2013.
- ↑ "Top flights". Daily chart. The Economist. May 14, 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-14.
Jeju, on the South Korean island of the same name, is not one of the country's 20 biggest cities. Yet the island's allure as a domestic tourist destination resulted in 9.9m passengers flying between Seoul and Jeju (in either direction) in 2011. This makes it the busiest airline route in the world, according to Amadeus, a company that provides technology to the travel industry.
- ↑ "Airport Distance Calculator".
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Retrieved from the "avia_par" dataset available at Eurostat
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 West-to-East traffic shift continues for summer 2012 | EUROCONTROL. Eurocontrol.int. Retrieved on 2013-07-16.
- ↑ "Airport Indicators". Pulkovo Airport.
- ↑ "Domestic Airline Consumer Airfare Report-2013, Table 1". US Department of Transportation.
- ↑ "Australian Domestic Airline Activity 2013" (PDF). Aviation Statistics. Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics. 2013. p. 3. Retrieved 2015-01-06.
- ↑ "Airport Movements". QuickTrip. Retrieved 2013-11-09.
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