The world's busiest passenger air routes

David Casey September 07, 2017

Ninety percent of the top 20 most in-demand flights on Earth were in the Asia-Pacific region during July 2017, new research by Routesonline has found, with no routes from Europe or the Americas making the list.

The busiest flight in the world during the month was Jeju International (CJU)-Seoul Gimpo International (GMP), a service that links the largest island off the coast of the Korean Peninsula with the capital city of South Korea.

More than 1.28 million passengers travelled the 450km between the two airports – almost 600,000 passengers more than the second busiest route, Sapporo New Chitose (CTS)-Tokyo International (HND). The 1.28 million figure was also 94,000 more than the number who travelled on the route during June, and 300,000 higher than July 2016.

In total, there were 5,858 flights between Jeju International and Seoul Gimpo International in July 2017, equivalent to an average of 189 per day. The average base fare for paid the 65 minute hop was $86.70.

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The research, which used OAG to analyse the top 50 routes in the world by capacity in July 2017 and then ranked them by passenger statistics on Sabre, found that Asia-Pacific dominated the top 20 busiest flights in the world, with just two routes outside the region making the table.

Sydney Kingsford Smith (SYD)-Melbourne Airport (MEL) was the third most in-demand flight with 663,037 passengers, while Jeddah (JED)-Riyadh King Khalid (RUH) was the 16th busiest with 365,316 passengers.

With an average base fare of $68.48, Ho Chi Minh City (SGN)-Hanoi (HAN) was the cheapest route in the top 20, while Okinawa Naha (OKA)-Tokyo (HND) was the most expensive at $320.92. The average fare across the top 20 was $142.77.

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While Jeju International-Seoul Gimpo International added the most passengers during July 2017, compared with June, Surabaya-Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta grew at the fastest rate in the top 20. The number of passengers was 20.4 percent higher at 423,799.

Top 20 busiest routes in the world (July 2017):

Rank	Route	Passengers July 2017	Passengers June 2017	Monthly change (%)	Average base fare (July 2017)
1	Jeju International - Seoul Gimpo	1284989	1190612	7.9%	$86.72
2	Sapporo New Chitose - Tokyo (Haneda)	688394	637519	8.0%	$107.57
3	Sydney Kingsford Smith - Melbourne	663037	598173	10.8%	$154.48
4	Tokyo (Haneda) - Fukuoka	622882	577904	7.8%	$247.43
5	Delhi - Mumbai	537186	526255	2.1%	$76.71
6	Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi	531338	593396	-10.5%	$68.48
7	Shanghai Hongqiao - Beijing Capital	522062	528879	-1.3%	$175.33
8	Hong Kong - Taipei Taiwan Taoyuan	451802	432128	4.6%	$94.25
9	Okinawa Naha - Tokyo (Haneda)	443189	375296	18.1%	$320.92
10	Surabaya - Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta	423799	351849	20.4%	$78.12
11	Chengdu - Beijing Capital	397935	367982	8.1%	$178.61
12	Tokyo (Haneda) - Osaka (Itami)	395384	357714	10.5%	$77.12
13	Denpasar-Bali - Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta	376386	355219	6.0%	$128.31
14	Shanghai Hongqiao - Shenzhen	371599	344625	7.8%	$209.39
15	Makassar - Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta	371288	335299	10.7%	$132.06
16	Jeddah - Riyadh King Khalid	365316	446810	-18.2%	$112.27
17	Guangzhou - Beijing Capital	361386	357065	1.2%	$119.07
18	Shenzhen - Beijing Capital	359042	363555	-1.2%	$296.56
19	Shanghai Hongqiao - Guangzhou	352656	341333	3.3%	$116.72
20	Delhi - Bengaluru	352087	337740	4.2%	$75.31