Asia Pacific dominated biggest routes by seat capacity in 2024, but Middle East made its mark
An annual report from OAG on the world's busiest airport to airport routes as measured by seat capacity reveals no great changes compared to 2023, with the Asia Pacific region continuing to dominate the statistics.
However, the Middle East does figure to a greater degree than it did previously, both domestically and internationally, and especially in respect of Saudi Arabia, which continues to show signs that it could become a regional air transport powerhouse.
Only one route involving both Europe and the Americas figures in the international table, and those very busy domestic and international intra-European routes of a decade ago have clearly been impacted by rail travel.
It was domestic travel that kept the US airline business running during the COVID-19 pandemic, but while that travel segment is back up to full speed now (and, unlike in Asia and Europe, faces no tangible threat from rail), it is still the case that no US domestic route figures in the global Top 10.
Not only that, the second biggest US route by capacity in 2024 (and number 1 in 2023) was between two Hawaiian islands!
Summary
- OAG publishes report on top air routes as measured by seats (capacity) – Asia Pacific again leads the way.
- Some of the busier domestic routes are not directly related to centres of population.
- Mumbai–Delhi route not as high as might be expected.
- Saudi Arabia’s economic development helps put Riyadh–Jeddah well up the table.
- The busiest international routes are concentrated on the usual suspects in Asia Pacific.
- Hong Kong, Seoul and Bangkok have all come back from the pandemic strongly.
- Two Middle East routes make it into the international table.
- Dubai World Central is still years away from making its presence felt.
- Kuala Lumpur is the surprise outsider, but it shouldn’t be a surprise.
- New York – London is the only Top 10 route not in Asia Pacific or the Middle East.
- Intra-European and domestic European routes have long been absent from these tables.
- World’s number 1 hub to world’s number 1 tourist resort route tops the US domestic table.
- The 'Spirit in the sky' homes in on Chicago’s O’Hare, rather than Midway airport.
- Still not a single US route in the domestic Top 10, and only one in the international table.
OAG publishes report on top air routes as measured by seats (capacity) - Asia Pacific again leads the way
The air travel intelligence and digital information supplier OAG reports that the top domestic and international routes between airports (rather than cities), as calculated by seat capacity (as opposed to passengers flown), was once again dominated by those in the Asia Pacific region in 2024.
In the domestic league, the rankings were as follows:
The top 10 domestic routes for 2024
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Rank |
Route |
Country |
Notes |
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1 |
Capacity increased 3% year-on-year to 14 million seats, but remains 19% behind the 2019 level. |
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2 |
Capacity remained similar to the 2023 level. |
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3 |
Capacity was relatively unchanged year-on-year. |
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4 |
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5 |
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6 |
Recorded the largest growth among the top 10 at 10% year-on-year, and 9% compared to 2019 |
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7 |
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8 |
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9 |
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10 |
Guangzhou Baiyun-Shanghai Hongqiao |
Source: OAG.
Interestingly, the top five rankings were unchanged from 2023.
Nine of these top 10 routes are within the Asia Pacific region.
Some of the busier domestic routes are not directly related to centres of population
Many of the routes are between the largest cities by population, as one might expect, and involve designated domestic airports where they exist (such as at Seoul and Shanghai).
But the three busiest involve relatively smaller cities, such as Jeju, Korea (island population less than 700,000, but essentially a tourist resort); Sapporo, Japan (one of seven airports on Hokkaido, Japan's most northerly island, and with a city population of around two million); and Fukuoka, on Japan's Kyūshū island, and in its case the sixth most populous city there, at 2.6 million for the metropolitan area.
Mumbai-Delhi not as high as might be expected
It could be expected that Mumbai-Delhi would be higher up the rankings, even though the route gained one place from the 2023 table, as it is between two cities that count almost 60 million people between them in their respective metropolitan areas, and are 1,150 km (720 miles) apart. The fact it isn't speaks to the gap that yet is still to be bridged between potential and actual demand for air travel in India, as much as it has grown in the past decade, and to the continuing power of the railways in India.
And both cities will have new, secondary airports in 2025, thus thinning out individual route capacity between them further.
Saudi Arabia's economic development helps put Riyadh-Jeddah well up the table
The most intriguing route is in Saudi Arabia, between the capital Riyadh and Jeddah, one which recorded the largest growth among the top 10 routes - at 10% year-on-year, and 9% compared to 2019.
That route jumped two places from where it was in the table last year, overtaking Tokyo-Okinawa and Beijing-Shanghai, and is one of many pointers to the continuing emergence of the country as an aviation powerhouse, as reflected also in its inclusion in the international Top 10 table, below.
Growth in regional Middle East markets generally is noticeable, with a particular emphasis on Saudi Arabia, where the Vision 2030 project continues to drive both business and leisure demand.
A CAPA - Centre for Aviation report was published in Dec-2024 on the surge in airport development in Saudi Arabia, see: Another huge airport coming in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - living up to the hype.
The route that dropped out of the table is Jakarta-Bali Denpasar, replaced by Guangzhou Baiyun-Shanghai Hongqiao, which connects the most populous and fourth most populous of Chinese cities (and Guangzhou is a major industrial and commercial city, with one of the world's largest attendant aerotropolises surrounding the airport).
The busiest international routes are concentrated on the usual suspects in Asia Pacific
Turning to the international league, the emphasis again is on Asia Pacific as it continues what has been a long and painful recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic- one that is now close to complete, if not wholly over the line.
There, the busiest routes are concentrated in the familiar major hubs of Hong Kong, Seoul Incheon and Singapore, but the composition of the supply on those routes is changing as the low-cost sector continues its growth at a faster rate than the legacy business.
The top 10 international routes for 2024
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Rank |
Route |
Countries/territories |
Notes |
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1 |
Capacity increased 48% year-on-year, and the ranking increased from third in 2023. Trade has much to do with this, placing. 6.8 million seats. |
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2 |
Capacity increased by 68% over the past five years. |
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3 |
Capacity increased 30% year-on-year. |
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4 |
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5 |
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6 |
Capacity increased by 37% since 2019. |
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7 |
The route re-entered the top 10 at after ranking 11th in 2023. |
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8 |
Jakarta-Singapore |
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9 |
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10 |
New York JFK-London Heathrow |
Four million seats. |
Source: OAG.
Asia Pacific dominates the annual rankings once again, with regional routes within seven of them: all short haul routes, and within both North Asia and Southeast Asia.
Hong Kong, Seoul and Bangkok have all come back from the COVID-19 pandemic strongly
It is noticeable the number of routes that involve Hong Kong (2), Seoul Incheon (2) and Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (2), all of them airports which took a heavy and lengthy hit from the pandemic, which was extensively reported by CAPA - Centre for Aviation in 2022 and 2023.
That these airports appear in this table at all is testimony to how those countries and airports have rallied during 2024. Bangkok, in particular, has been aided by the recovery in its international tourist business as the country's main gateway for that activity.
Two Middle East routes make it into the international table
But again, what stands out is the fact that there are two Middle East routes in the table: Cairo-Jeddah (number 2) and Dubai-Riyadh (number 6).
(Correctly speaking the first one is actually Africa-Middle East but CAPA - Centre for Aviation regards Egypt as being in both Africa and the Middle East, the latter designation because of its strong ties to bordering Middle East countries).
Cairo-Jeddah is one of two routes operating there that have entered the top 10 since 2019, experiencing 68% growth in five years, while Dubai International-Riyadh is 6th placed, with 4.3 million seats and 37% capacity growth since 2019.
It is likely that other routes connecting with the two biggest Saudi Arabian airports will start to appear in these tables in future years.
Dubai World Central is still years away from making its presence felt
Dubai World Central (Al Maktoum) has yet to make any sort of impact, and despite the promises made last year about its expansion over the next decade to the levels originally intended for it, it will be many years before it shows up in these tables.
(Much the same could be said for Beijing Daxing airport, which will probably not see any route challenging for a Top 10 place for several years yet).
Kuala Lumpur is the surprise outsider, but it shouldn't be a surprise
Kuala Lumpur makes an unexpected entry at number 4 in the table for the short route connecting it with Singapore, but it should not really be unanticipated.
Kuala Lumpur International Airport emerged as the second most connected airport globally in OAG's 2024 'Megahubs' report, which was also examined in a CAPA - Centre for Aviation report. In 2023, the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore Changi route was identified as the busiest international route by seat capacity.
These developments reflect significant connectivity and capacity growth in the Asia Pacific region generally, and particularly in Kuala Lumpur, where the airport won the CAPA Award for 'Large Airport of the Year' in 2024.
New York-London is the only route not in Asia Pacific or the Middle East
The outlier is New York JFK-London Heathrow, which just scrapes in at number 10 in the table and is unique in several ways, as the only route that is not in either Asia Pacific or the Middle East, and the only genuinely long haul route, crossing an ocean.
That route is driven by both business and leisure travel and by the size of the aircraft operating on it, contributing to a high ASK rate.
The two cities lead the world as financial centres. While London Heathrow is a global hub though, New York JFK is not - to the same degree - and certainly not in comparison to airports, such as Chicago O'Hare and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson airports, even if it is closing the gap.
If it was, that rank in the table might be higher, although the comparative lack of frequencies, off-setting the larger aircraft size, will always count against it.
Intra-European and domestic European routes have long been absent from these tables
It is certainly the case that the days when intra-European and domestic routes, like Paris Charles de Gaulle-London Heathrow and Madrid-Barcelona, dominated these tables are gone.
Those routes have succumbed to the threat of increasingly rapid rail travel that hangs over the industry in many places like the Sword of Damocles.
World's number 1 hub to world's number 1 tourist resort route tops the US domestic table
Turning finally to the US domestic air travel scene, which was the one least impacted by the pandemic: 2024's biggest route by seat capacity, Honolulu-Kahului (on Maui Island) has been replaced this year by Atlanta to Orlando, although the Hawaiian islands route does hold the number 2 position.
There was some speculation in 2024 that the surprise placing of that route was somehow connected to the devastating wildfire that took place there in Aug-2023, but with hindsight the route is dependent both on local travel needs and tourism.
It was replaced at number 1 by a route that is also heavily driven by tourism, between the world's busiest airport and biggest domestic hub, Atlanta, and the tourism capital of Orlando, where 3.5 million seats were offered during the year.
The third-placed route, Las Vegas to/from Los Angeles (LAX), followed closely behind to rank number 3 as it did in 2023: a route that, again, is heavily driven by tourist demand to the world's leading gambling city.
Denver-Phoenix (PHX), placed at number 4, and Los Angeles (LAX)-San Francisco (SFO) at number 5.
That is another route that by now should have been adversely impacted, in this case by the much-vaunted but shambolic high speed rail project between the two Californian cities (California High-Speed Rail) that will eventually (not before 2030) offer a service covering 500 miles (800 km) between the two, at a construction cost of USD130 billion just for the first phase, which is right in the middle.
The Spirit in the sky homes in on Chicago's O'Hare rather than Midway airport
New York LaGuardia-Chicago O'Hare moves into the top 10 this year at number 7, having seen the highest increase in capacity year-on-year, growing by 17% in 2024 compared to 2023.
It is the only route between the largest and third largest US cities, and is notable for a mainly domestic airport (95% of capacity) at one end in New York and one that is less so (82% of capacity) at the other in Chicago (O'Hare), rather than Midway where domestic counts for 96% of capacity.
What has happened there is that while American Airlines and United Airlines maintained similar route capacity from New York La Guardia to Chicago, the addition of 700 flights from Spirit Airlines helped position it as one of the busiest US routes in 2024, pointing to an evolving competitive landscape.
The ULCC Spirit has chosen to base itself at the giant O'Hare hub airport, rather than at Midway, where LCCs account for 97% of capacity, rather than the 9.6% at O'Hare. That goes to show that nothing can ever be taken for granted in the air transport business.
Still not a single US route in the domestic Top 10, and only one in the international table
The key take away from this last section, though, remains the same as in 2023 though: namely, that not a single one of these US domestic air routes gets into the global Top 10, and only one from both the US and Europe gets into the Top 10 internationally.
While 'busiest routes' are merely a snapshot of total activity, these statistics will not be lost on airline and aircraft manufacturer planners.
CAPA - Centre for Aviation's commentary on the 2023 report is accessible here: The world's busiest international routes, domestic routes and airports - observations and insights.