Revealing the world’s most popular flight route

While the US holds the title for the largest aviation market, it’s Asia that leads the pack when it comes to the most in-demand air routes.

A recent survey of the world’s busiest flight routes shows that many top destinations are in Asia, with the 450-kilometer flight from Seoul’s Gimpo Airport to Jeju Island topping the list.

Over 13.4 million travelers took the short, scenic journey from South Korea’s capital to the picturesque island, often referred to as 'the Hawaii of Korea.'

This highly popular route operates an average of 180 flights daily, or roughly one flight every eight minutes.

Asia-Pacific Takes the Lead

The flight from Seoul to Jeju Island holds the title of the world’s busiest route.

The flight from Seoul to Jeju Island, as shown in the image, is the world’s busiest air route. Courtesy Republic of Korea/Creative Commons/Flickr

The closest competitor to this route is the one between Melbourne Airport and Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport, which saw just over nine million passengers in 2017, according to a report by UK-based aviation network developer Routes.

Asia-Pacific dominates, accounting for over 70% of the top 100 busiest routes based on passenger numbers.

Not surprisingly, Japan ranks as one of the world’s busiest destinations, with three of its domestic routes among the most traveled: Sapporo's New Chitose Airport to Tokyo Haneda (8.7 million passengers), Fukuoka to Tokyo Haneda (7.86 million passengers), and Tokyo Haneda to Okinawa’s Naha Airport (5.27 million passengers).

Vietnam also made the list, with the route from Hanoi’s Noi Bai Airport to Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat Airport claiming seventh place, carrying over five million passengers.

The route from Hong Kong International Airport to Taipei Taoyuan Airport topped the list for international flights, with 6.7 million passengers making the 802-kilometer journey in 2017.

High-demand flight routes

The flight from Hong Kong International Airport to Taipei Taoyuan Airport was the busiest international route. Courtesy Hong Kong International Airport

The New York JFK to London Heathrow route ranked as the ninth busiest international flight, with nearly three million passengers in 2017. Meanwhile, the busiest North American route was the JFK to Los Angeles International Airport journey.

The study also identified the fastest-growing routes, with the Thai domestic flight from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport to Chiang Mai International Airport topping the list.

"This research supports predictions that the Asia-Pacific region will lead passenger demand growth over the next 20 years," says Steven Small, brand director at Routes.

The rankings were based on data from OAG Schedules Analyser, which assessed the top 500 routes by overall seat capacity in 2017, then sorted them by passenger numbers using figures from Sabre Market Intelligence.

The 10 busiest scheduled passenger routes worldwide in 2017

1. Jeju to Seoul Gimpo – 13,460,306 passengers

2. Melbourne to Sydney Kingsford Smith – 9,090,941 passengers

3. Sapporo to Tokyo Haneda – 8,726,502 passengers

4. Fukuoka to Tokyo Haneda – 7,864,000 passengers

5. Mumbai to Delhi – 7,129,943 passengers

6. Beijing Capital to Shanghai Hongqiao – 6,833,684 passengers

7. Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City – 6,769,823 passengers

8. Hong Kong to Taiwan Taoyuan – 6,719,030 passengers

9. Jakarta to Juanda Surabaya – 5,271,304 passengers

10. Tokyo Haneda to Okinawa – 5,269,481 passengers

The 10 busiest scheduled international flight routes worldwide in 2017