Kuala Lumpur to Singapore Changi was 2023’s busiest international airline route, according to a flight data company.
It tops a ranking by OAG – illustrated on a world map – produced by measuring the routes with the largest volume of scheduled airline seats in both directions.
Last year there were 4,891,952 seats available on Kuala Lumpur to Singapore Changi services, putting it ahead of Cairo to Jeddah, which came second in the list with 4,795,712 seats. In third came Hong Kong to Taipei with 4,568,280 seats.
London Heathrow to JFK, meanwhile, ranked eighth, with 3,878,590 seats.
The busiest domestic route in 2023 was Jeju to Seoul (13,728,786), and the U.S’s busiest domestic route was Honolulu to Kahului (3,612,212).
The above map reveals the busiest international flight routes of 2023, according to OAG, which calculated the ranking based on the number of scheduled airline seats
The rest of the top 10 busiest international routes for 2023 were Seoul Incheon to Osaka Kansai (fourth, 4,218,484); Seoul Incheon to Tokyo Narita (fifth, 4,155,418); Dubai to Riyadh (sixth, 3,990,076); Jakarta to Singapore Changi (seventh, 3,910,502); Bangkok to Singapore Changi (ninth, 3,478,474), and Bangkok to Seoul Incheon (10th, 3,362,968).
Comparing the results to its 2019 ranking, OAG said half of the top 10 busiest international routes were not in the top 10 in 2019.
These were Cairo to Jeddah (second), Seoul Incheon to Osaka Kansai (fourth), Seoul Incheon to Tokyo Narita (fifth), Dubai to Riyadh (sixth) and Bangkok to Incheon (10th).
The busiest domestic route in 2023 was Jeju to Seoul, with 13,728,786 seats scheduled
New York JFK to London Heathrow placed (above) eighth on the busiest international flight route ranking, with 3,878,590 seats
Coming runner-up in the domestic ranking was Hokkaido’s Chitose Airport to Tokyo Haneda with 11,936,302 seats.
Fukuoka to Tokyo Haneda followed closely behind in third with 11,264,229 seats, with OAG noting: ‘There is only a six per cent gap in capacity between second and third place.’
The rest of the top 10 domestic routes comprised Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City (fourth, 10,883,555); Melbourne to Sydney (fifth, 9,342,312); Beijing to Shanghai Hongqiao (sixth, 8,355,225); Tokyo Haneda to Okinawa Naha (seventh, 7,982,218); Jeddah to Riyadh (eighth, 7,902,142); Mumbai to Delhi (ninth, 7,276,430), and Jakarta to Denpasar-Bali (10th, 7,190,961).
OAG added that Jakarta to Denpasar is the only route in the top 10 busiest domestic routes that did not rank in the top 10 in 2019.
Honolulu (above) to Kahului is the U.S’s busiest domestic route with 3,612,212 seats, according to OAG
Atlanta to Orlando was the second-busiest domestic route in the U.S with 3,515,882 seats followed by Las Vegas to Los Angeles in third (3,496,170).
Rounding out the top 10 busiest U.S domestic routes were New York JFK to Los Angeles (fourth, 3,241,663); Denver to Las Vegas (fifth, 3,198,098); Los Angeles to San Francisco (sixth, 3,130,328); Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale (seventh, 3,045,220); Denver to Phoenix (eighth, 3,040,961); Atlanta to New York La Guardia (ninth, 2,707,958), and Los Angeles to Chicago O’Hare (10th, 2,672,269).
OAG reveals there were three routes in the top 10 busiest domestic routes in the U.S which were not in the top 10 in 2019, including Honolulu to Kahului (first), Denver to Las Vegas (fifth) and Denver to Phoenix (eighth).
Los Angeles to San Francisco was the busiest U.S route in 2019, but it dropped to sixth in 2023 with a 33 per cent decrease in capacity.
