List of busiest passenger flight routes explained

These are lists of the busiest flight routes by the number of passengers flown, by seat capacity and by aircraft movements.

Global statistics

By number of passengers

Top 10 busiest flight routes

Rank	Departing	Arriving	Distance (km)	2023^[1]	2022^[2]	2021^[3]	2019^[4]	2018^[5]	2017^[6]	Type
1		Seoul–Gimpo	449	13,728,786	16,068,983	17,082,700	17,426,873	14,107,414	13,460,306	Domestic
2		Tokyo–Haneda	835	11,936,302	10,216,765	8,171,324	12,498,468	9,698,639	8,726,502	Domestic
3		Tokyo–Haneda	889	11,264,229	9,894,296	7,562,387	11,400,018	8,762,547	7,864,000	Domestic
4	Hanoi	Ho Chi Minh City	1171	10,883,555	8,562,009	6,806,131	10,253,530	6,867,114	6,769,823	Domestic
5	Sydney	Melbourne	705	9,342,312	6,996,156	2,119,779^[7]	9,958,500	9,245,392	9,090,941	Domestic
6	Beijing–Capital	Shanghai–Hongqiao	1081	8,355,225	6,321,194	7,910,793	8,117,461	6,518,997	6,833,684	Domestic
7	Tokyo–Haneda	Naha	1573	7,982,218	6,910,809	5,602,408	7,704,098	5,829,712	5,269,481	Domestic
8	Jeddah	Riyadh	857	7,902,142	7,371,119	6,677,097	8,018,205	5,526,110	5,091,629	Domestic
9	Mumbai	Delhi	1150	7,276,430	6,941,947	4,891,881	8,230,822	7,392,155	7,129,943	Domestic
10	Jakarta	Denpasar	991	7,190,961	6,741,923	3,939,509		5,535,108	4,952,852	Domestic
Below this line are the former Top 11–50 flight routes. Data for popular 2019–2022 international routes might be provided, but a placement cannot be established.
	Shanghai–Hongqiao	Shenzhen	1217			6,555,365		4,679,294	4,445,654	Domestic
	Guangzhou	Shanghai–Hongqiao	1176			6,350,115		4,724,514	4,469,990	Domestic
	Seoul–Gimpo	Busan	328			6,297,916				Domestic
	Cancún	Mexico City	1294			5,604,043		4,885,602	4,656,308	Domestic
	Jakarta	Makassar	1439			4,895,779		4,530,428	4,559,737	Domestic
		Beijing–Capital	1559			4,734,834		5,092,442	4,951,620	Domestic
	Tokyo–Haneda	Osaka–Itami	407			4,728,321	7,248,300	5,131,757	5,106,584	Domestic
	Jeju	Busan	293			4,176,876		3,106,224	2,793,383	Domestic
	Jakarta	Medan	1401			4,060,426		4,512,830	3,886,963	Domestic
	Cape Town	Johannesburg	1292			4,001,680		4,508,214	4,698,849	Domestic
	Beijing–Capital	Shenzhen	1979			3,978,144		4,853,038	4,496,351	Domestic
		Taipei–Taoyuan	802	3,489,592		1,296,969	7,965,538	6,476,268	6,719,030	International
	Jakarta	Surabaya	700					5,649,046	5,271,304	Domestic
		Beijing–Capital	1898					5,076,229	4,864,177	Domestic
	Brisbane	Sydney	756		3,594,184	1,093,231		4,815,609	4,742,771	Domestic
	Jakarta	Singapore	896				5,480,000	4,812,342	4,810,602	International
	Bengaluru	Delhi	1717					4,542,638	4,183,799	Domestic
		Singapore	296		2,443,176		5,560,894	4,490,463	4,108,824	International
		Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont	378					4,234,631	4,096,193	Domestic
	Hong Kong	Shanghai–Pudong	1247				4,463,658	4,053,909	4,162,347	International
	Los Angeles	San Francisco	541					3,971,922	3,507,702	Domestic
	Bogotá	Medellín-Rionegro	239					3,930,332	3,323,127	Domestic
	Bengaluru	Mumbai	834					3,814,494	3,445,315	Domestic
	New York–JFK	Los Angeles	3982					3,635,655	3,531,613	Domestic
	Bangkok–Don Mueang	Phuket	698					3,612,373	3,325,261	Domestic
	Brisbane	Melbourne	1379		2,806,475	787,439		3,565,266	3,545,156	Domestic
	Cebu	Manila	570					3,519,525	3,233,871	Domestic
	Hong Kong	Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi	1694				4,826,872	3,490,988	3,438,628	International
	Mexico City	Monterrey	729					3,474,971	3,202,091	Domestic
	Kolkata	Delhi	1333					3,431,999	3,153,548	Domestic
		Ho Chi Minh City	617					3,256,718	3,210,368	Domestic
	Chiang Mai	Bangkok–Don Mueang	569					3,212,124	3,155,528	Domestic
	Seoul–Incheon	Osaka–Kansai	872					3,210,813	2,907,199	International
	Cusco	Lima	583					3,201,414	3,000,513	Domestic
	New York–LaGuardia	Chicago–O'Hare	1177					3,198,700	3,118,651	Domestic
	Jakarta	Kuala Lumpur	1142		816,810		3,798,559	3,170,193	2,812,479	International
	Mexico City	Guadalajara	466					3,170,177	2,996,806	Domestic
	İzmir	Istanbul–Atatürk	348					3,084,250	3,496,438	Domestic
	Hong Kong	Seoul–Incheon	2080				3,942,875	3,081,942	3,198,132	International
	Guangzhou	Chengdu	1232					3,044,038	2,944,642	Domestic
	Hong Kong	Manila	1145				3,852,991	3,008,842	2,907,228	International
	Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi	Phuket	685						3,396,189	Domestic
	Dubai	London–Heathrow	5529		2,697,593	1,298,756		2,665,441	3,210,121	International
	Hong Kong	Singapore	2587					2,923,578	3,147,384	International
	New York–JFK	London–Heathrow	5562		2,848,044	1,364,286	3,833,701	2,846,321	2,972,817	International
	Hong Kong	Beijing–Capital	2011					3,000,786	2,962,707	International<	-- Think about copyright, showing 100 of 100 list is not fair use
51	Vancouver	Toronto–Pearson	3358	2,950,823	2,912,026	Domestic
53	Los Angeles	Chicago–O'Hare	2811	2,927,492		Domestic
56	Hangzhou	Beijing–Capital	1157	2,883,519		Domestic
57	Durban	Johannesburg	498	2,847,156	2,953,851	Domestic
58	Atlanta	Orlando	645	2,836,474	2,918,980	Domestic
59	Las Vegas	Los Angeles	388	2,823,411	2,961,553	Domestic
62		Seattle–Tacoma	1540	2,768,035		Domestic
63		Sydney	682	2,739,057		Domestic
64		Cali	287	2,726,627		Domestic
65		Hangzhou	1037	2,653,701	2,856,019	Domestic
66		Toronto–Pearson	503	2,640,849		Domestic
67		Kunming–Changshui	417	2,627,969		Domestic
68		Wellington	483	2,617,041		Domestic
69		Kuala Lumpur	1622	2,609,151		Domestic
70		Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen	364	2,608,469		Domestic
71		Manila	975	2,606,945		Domestic
72		Pune	1158	2,601,764		Domestic
73		Singapore	3,832,494 <<2019>>	1431	2,596,349		International
74		Taipei–Taoyuan	2193	2,592,049	2,848,925	International
75		Hyderabad	1273	2,577,743	2,980,730	Domestic
76		Cartagena	673	2,573,763		Domestic
77		Kagoshima	948	2,553,366		Domestic
78		Xi'an	951	2,540,100		Domestic
79		Goa	423	2,537,413		Domestic
80		Christchurch	751	2,535,669		Domestic
81		Hanoi	626	2,534,425		Domestic
82		Taipei–Taoyuan	1714	2,530,208		International
83		Los Angeles	1392	2,519,541		Domestic
84		Hat Yai	794	2,518,553		Domestic
85		Shenzhen	1327	2,509,192	2,873,291	Domestic
86		Beijing–Capital	1483	2,485,613		Domestic
87		Chongqing	975	2,468,368		Domestic
88		Chennai	1774	2,456,556		Domestic
89		Melbourne	646	2,454,637		Domestic
90		Makassar	794	2,434,487		Domestic
91		Chiang Mai	597	2,395,389		Domestic
92		Kuwait City	857	2,394,192		International
93		New York–LaGuardia	1238	2,387,693		Domestic
		Dubai	1925	1,977,537			2,383,145	International
95		Penang	324	2,379,127		Domestic
96		Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen	322	2,378,692		Domestic
97		Chennai	1045	2,377,806		Domestic
98		Fort Lauderdale	943	2,360,786		Domestic
99		Padang	914	2,350,206		Domestic
100		Kuala Lumpur	971	2,341,291		Domestic -->

Busiest international flight routes by origin-and-destination passenger volume (airport pairs)

Rank	Departing	Arriving	2023	2022	2019	2018	2017^[8] ^[9]	2015 (in millions)^[10]
1	Kuala Lumpur	Singapore	4,891,952	2,443,176	5,560,894	4,490,463	4,108,824	2.7
2	Cairo	Jeddah	4,795,712	3,234,683
3		Taipei-Taoyuan	4,568,280		7,965,538 (#9)	6,476,268 (#8)	6,719,030 (#8)
4	Seoul-Incheon	Osaka-Kansai	4,218,484			3,210,813	2,907,199
5	Seoul-Incheon	Tokyo-Narita	4,155,418
6	Dubai	Riyadh	3,990,076	3,191,090
7	Jakarta	Singapore	3,910,502		5,480,000	4,812,342	4,810,602	3.4
8	London–Heathrow	New York–JFK	3,878,590	2,848,044	3,833,701		2,972,817
9	Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi	Singapore	3,478,474		3,832,494
10	Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi	Seoul-Incheon	3,362,968
	Dubai	London–Heathrow		2,697,593(prev 4th)
	Dubai	Jeddah		2,425,930(prev 6th)
	Orlando	San Juan		2,099,234(prev 7th)
	Mumbai	Dubai		1,977,537(prev 8th)
	Cairo	Riyadh		1,913,991(prev 9th)
	Delhi	Dubai		1,898,749(prev 10th)
	Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi	Hong Kong			4,826,872	3,490,988	3,438,628	3
	Hong Kong	Shanghai–Pudong			4,463,658
	Hong Kong	Seoul-Incheon			3,942,875	3,081,942	3,198,132
	Hong Kong	Manila			3,852,991	3,008,842	2,907,228
	Jakarta	Kuala Lumpur			3,798,559	3,170,193	2,812,479
		Singapore				2,923,578	3,147,384	2.7
		Taipei-Taoyuan				2,848,925

Busiest routes by region

Departing	Arriving	2023	2022	2020	2019	2018	2017
Asia
Jeju		13,728,786	16,068,983		17,426,873	14,107,414	13,460,306
Oceania
Sydney		9,342,312	6,989,569		9,958,500	9,245,392	9,090,941
Middle East
		7,902,142	7,371,119		8,018,205	5,526,110	5,091,629
South America
Bogotá	Medellín-Rionegro				5,706,480
Africa
Cape Town	Johannesburg-ORT				6,072,196	4,508,214	4,698,849
Cancun	Mexico City		4,803,489	2,874,267	5,009,235	4,885,602	4,656,308
			3,928,203^[11]		4,658,377
						3,971,922	3,531,613
Europe
Barcelona	Palma de Mallorca		2,033,205	820,742	2,173,939	2,035,723	1,944,728

By aircraft movements

The following are the lists of the world's busiest flight routes based on the number of scheduled flights in both directions. Note that these statistics do not consider the number of passengers carried.

Domestic

Domestic

Rank	Airport pair		of flights^[12] (Jan – Nov 2021)	Airlines
1	Jeju (CJU)		71,388	Air Busan, Air Seoul, Asiana Airlines, Eastar Jet, Hi Air, Jeju Air, Jin Air, Korean Air, T'way Air
2	Seoul (GMP)		28,809	Air Busan, Air Seoul, Jeju Air, Jin Air, Korean Air, T'way Air
3	Jeddah (JED)	Riyadh (RUH)	24,879	Flyadeal, Flynas, Saudia, Riyadh Air
4	Fukuoka (FUK)	Tokyo (HND)	23,079	All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines, Skymark Airlines, StarFlyer
5	Sapporo (CTS)	Tokyo (HND)	21,851	Air Do, All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines, Skymark Airlines
6	Mexico City (MEX)	Cancún (CUN)	21,352	Aeroméxico, Aeroméxico Connect, Magnicharters, VivaAerobús, Volaris
7	Shanghai (SHA)		19,945	China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Juneyao Air, Shanghai Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Spring Airlines, XiamenAir
8	Beijing (PEK)	Shanghai (SHA)	18,624	Air China, China Eastern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, OTT Airlines, Shanghai Airlines
9	Hanoi (HAN)		18,342	Bamboo Airways, Pacific Airlines, VietJet Air, Vietnam Airlines, Vietravel Airlines
10	Bogotá (BOG)	Rionegro (MDE)	18,086	Avianca, LATAM, Wingo, B&H Airlines, JetSmart, FedEx Express^[13]
11	Guangzhou (CAN)	Shanghai (SHA)	18,066	Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Juneyao Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Spring Airlines
12	Jeju (CJU)		17,630	Air Busan, Jeju Air, Jin Air, Korean Air, T'way Air
13	Mumbai (BOM)	Delhi (DEL)	17,069	AirAsia India, Air India, Go First, IndiGo, SpiceJet, Vistara
14	Los Angeles (LAX)	San Francisco (SFO)	15,828	Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, American Eagle, Delta Air Lines, Delta Connection, JetBlue, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines
15	Okinawa (OKA)	Tokyo (HND)	15,687	All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines, Skymark Airlines, Solaseed Air
16	Cape Town (CPT)	Johannesburg (JNB)	15,208	Airlink, CemAir, LIFT, FlySafair, LIFT Airline, South African Airways
17	Chengdu (CTU)	Beijing (PEK)	15,180	Air China, Hainan Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Tibet Airlines
18	Los Angeles (LAX)		15,026	Alaska Airlines, Allegiant Air, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, JSX, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Sun Country Airlines, United Express, United Airlines
19	Chengdu (CTU)	Guangzhou (CAN)	14,746	Beijing Capital Airlines, Chengdu Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Sichuan Airlines
20	Bogotá (BOG)	Cali (CLO)	14,604	Avianca, LATAM, Wingo, Clic Air, Iberia (airline)

International

The only international route to make the Top 50 busiest routes in 2021 was between Saint Barthélemy (SBH) and Sint Maarten (SXM).^[14]

International

Rank	Airport pair		of flights^[15] (March 2018 - Feb 2019)	Airlines (2024)
1	Kuala Lumpur (KUL)	Singapore (SIN)	30,187	Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines, AirAsia, Jetstar Asia, Malindo Air, Scoot, Firefly, Saudia
2	Hong Kong (HKG)	Taipei (TPE)	28,447	Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, EVA Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines,Thai Airways, Starlux Airlines, Greater Bay Airlines, United Parcel Service
3	Jakarta (CGK)	Singapore (SIN)	27,046	Singapore Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Lion Air, Jetstar Asia, Indonesia AirAsia, Scoot, Batik Air
4	Hong Kong (HKG)	Shanghai (PVG)	20,678	China Eastern Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Spring Airlines, Juneyao Airlines
5	Jakarta (CGK)	Kuala Lumpur (KUL)	19,741	Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, Lion Air, Indonesia AirAsia, Malindo Airways, Garuda Indonesia, KLM, Batik Air, Citilink, TransNusa
6	Osaka (KIX)	Seoul (ICN)	19,711	Asiana Airlines, Korean Air, Jin Air, Jeju Air, Peach Aviation, Eastar Jet, T'way Air, Air Seoul, Air Busan
7	Toronto (YYZ)	New York (LGA)	17,038	Air Canada, United Airlines, Republic Airways, AirSprint, Jazz Aviation, Endeavor Air, NetJets, Delta Air Lines
8	Hong Kong (HKG)	Seoul (ICN)	15,770	Cathay Pacific, Korean Air, HK Express, Asiana Airlines, Jeju Air, Eastar Jet, T'way Air, Jin Air,Thai Airways, Greater Bay Airlines
9	Bangkok (BKK)	Singapore (SIN)	14,698	Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Scoot, Jetstar Asia, Cathay Pacific, K-Mile Air, Nippon Cargo Airlines, Asiana Airlines
10	Dubai (DXB)	Kuwait (KWI)	14,581	Emirates, Flydubai, Kuwait Airways, Jazeera Airways
11	Hong Kong (HKG)	Bangkok (BKK)	14,556	Cathay Pacific, Thai Airways, Hong Kong Airlines, Emirates, HK Express, Greater Bay Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, Air Hong Kong, Egypt Air, K-Mile Air, Hong Kong Air Cargo, Qatar Airways Cargo^[16], Air ACT^[17]
12	Hong Kong (HKG)	Beijing (PEK)	14,537	Air China, Hong Kong Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Air Hong Kong
13	London (LHR)	New York (JFK)	14,195	British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, JetBlue Airways
14	Tokyo (NRT)	Taipei (TPE)	13,902	China Airlines, EVA Air, Peach Aviation, Japan Airlines, Scoot, Cathay Pacific, Jetstar Japan, Thai Lion Air, Tiger Air, Starlux, Nippon Cargo Airlines, FedEx Express
15	London (LHR)	Dublin (DUB)	13,855	Aer Lingus, British Airways
16	Osaka (KIX)	Shanghai (PVG)	13,708	China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Air China, Juneyao Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Spring Airlines, China Cargo Airlines, Peach Aviation,Shanghai Airlines
17	Hong Kong (HKG)	Singapore (SIN)	13,654	Cathay Pacific Airways, Singapore Airlines, Scoot, Air Hong Kong,Hong Kong Air Cargo, UPS Airlines
18	Toronto (YYZ)	Chicago (ORD)	13,503	Air Canada, United Airlines, Envoy Air, EVA Air, Skywest, AeroLogic, Republic Airways
19	Tokyo (NRT)	Seoul (ICN)	13,420	Asiana Airlines, Korean Air, Jeju Air, Eastar Jet, Jin Air, T'way Air, Air Japan, Zip Air, Air Premia, Air Seoul, Air Busan, Ethiopian Airlines, Japan Airline, All Nippon Airways, Kalitta Air, Aero K, Lufthansa Cargo
20	Osaka (KIX)	Taipei (TPE)	13,325	All Nippon Airways, China Airlines, EVA Air, Japan Airlines, Starlux Airlines, Tigerair Taiwan

Regional statistics

Europe (2011–2022)

Busiest flight routes inside the EU, UK, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway*

Data retrieved from Eurostat, 2020–2022^[18]

Rank	Airport 1	Airport 2	2020	2021	2022
1			820,742	1,220,540	2,033,205
2			793,794	1,140,759	1,877,938
3			918,615	1,005,775	1,839,520
4			869,489	991,026	1,737,598
5			754,090	1,013,754	1,715,592
6			648,964	1,060,641	1,541,879
7			415,465	573,206	1,538,344
8			638,092	937,084	1,430,978
9			720,102	785,512	1,392,824
10			617,739	875,428	1,291,140
11			551,914	826,643	1.204,852
			549,692	741,588	1,176,181
			606,927	722,576
			460,765	707,707	1,371,546
			744,588	699,762
			504,120	650,400
			427,252	622,148
			368,182	610,232
			377,835	608,458
			382,232	574,588
			495,151	574,320
			492,723	570,825
			294,903	569,193
			353,196	557,869
			728,801	508,428
			521,138	497,045
			392,679	485,950
			398,431	480,661
			402,949	467,608
			359,582	458,560	1,207,458
			363,665	457,430
			291,571	457,135
			288,463	457,111	1,291,186
			332,296	442,593
			297,056	435,115
			229,366	430,838
			294,090	428,845
			274,263	427,966
			454,469	425,692
			348,322	420,862
			295,201	413,802
			304,230	413,715
			413,728	412,499
			279,122	410,557
			278,738	410,359
			344,462	406,047
			405,748	405,422
			445,413	404,011
			319,663	403,916
			343,027	402,923

Data retrieved from Eurostat, 2011–2019

Rank	Airport 1	Airport 2	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
1	Madrid/Barajas	Barcelona/El Prat **	3,102,436	2,550,462	2,213,200	2,204,765	2,253,387	2,328,726	2,341,255	2,466,968	2,572,893
2	Frankfurt	Berlin/Tegel	1,792,655	1,813,063	1,845,600	1,792,006	1,907,218	1,935,465	1,956,128	2,292,098	2,249,667
3	Toulouse/Blagnac	Paris/Orly	2,322,456	2,330,224	2,379,100	2,330,949	2,318,015	2,358,917	2,325,043	2,282,407	2,217,892
4	Barcelona/El Prat	Palma de Mallorca	1,639,423	1,460,684	1,388,900	1,410,172	1,576,063	1,772,613	1,944,554	2,035,602	2,173,939
5			1,749,545	1,818,877	1,873,944	1,912,141	1,942,959	1,988,105	2,089,889	2,151,448	2,106,440
6	Nice	Paris/Orly	2,236,436	2,175,773	2,160,300	2,072,138	2,113,506	2,124,792	2,217,895	2,135,634	2,052,649
7	Oslo/Gardermoen	Bergen	1,691,887	1,729,076	1,722,398	1,819,279	1,810,826	1,881,960	1,985,088	2,028,680	2,003,406
8	Madrid/Barajas		1,604,853	1,442,410	1,224,700	1,283,404	1,411,314	1,687,547	1,815,387	1,967,136	1,995,104
9	Berlin/Tegel	Munich	1,667,408	1,731,145	1,831,700	1,868,877	1,974,929	1,939,820	1,973,008	1,988,248	1,933,817
10	London/Heathrow	Dublin	1,556,111	1,577,649	1,663,900	1,650,394	1,682,855	1,751,689	1,803,479	1,809,140	1,855,333
11	Catania/Fontanarossa	Rome/Fiumicino	1,842,940	1,694,400	1,566,800	1,869,881	1,979,648	2,054,721	2,017,172	1,976,230 ^[19]	1,824,428
12	Amsterdam/Schiphol	London/Heathrow	1,406,964	1,429,800	1,443,400	1,486,783	1,587,605	1,617,170	1,689,924	1,746,940	1,747,789
13	Munich	Hamburg	1,717,734	1,719,351	1,713,200	1,756,990	1,811,425	1,805,211	1,739,252	1,749,616	1,739,939
14	Oslo/Gardermoen	Stavanger	1,434,043	1,517,195	1,536,032	1,564,631	1,515,870	1,564,127	1,600,959	1,675,486	1,681,335
15	Madrid/Barajas	Gran Canaria	1,438,377	1,301,539	1,152,669	1,181,442	1,305,670	1,508,972	1,510,429	1,616,540	1,659,106
16	London/Gatwick	Barcelona/El Prat	517,820	741,735	1,131,350	1,273,850	1,354,193	1,362,488	1,460,378	1,556,045	1,586,967
17	Rome/Fiumicino	Palermo/Falcone Borsellino	1,499,933	1,360,400	1,264,100	1,475,957	1,481,174	1,543,462	1,589,733	1,663,463	1,579,946
18	Madrid/Barajas	Lisbon	1,169,714	1,108,931	975,389	1,026,786	1,174,116	1,299,412	1,427,929	1,517,620	1,557,398
19	London/Heathrow	Frankfurt	1,459,909	1,482,649	1,488,600	1,506,826	1,530,986	1,486,291	1,495,472	1,552,249	1,548,995
20	Palma de Mallorca	Düsseldorf	944,437	985,749	1,090,227	1,162,268	1,201,664	1,268,891	1,267,676	1,495,826	1,544,710
21	Madrid/Barajas	Tenerife North	1,337,050	1,167,731	1,102,701	1,094,815	1,149,450	1,305,110	1,380,916	1,487,326	1,493,755
22	Munich	Düsseldorf	1,569,364	1,553,361	1,558,200	1,527,416	1,557,442	1,565,997	1,554,184	1,422,773	1,488,322
23	Copenhagen	Oslo/Gardermoen	1,206,480	1,291,018	1,322,948	1,402,753	1,427,618	1,506,326	1,544,534	1,509,030	1,479,320
24	London/Heathrow	Madrid/Barajas	1,093,400	1,197,700	1,264,800	1,274,714	1,320,834	1,317,511	1,382,290	1,416,795	1,476,551
25	Frankfurt	Hamburg	1,587,593	1,385,867	1,362,400	1,343,857	1,361,027	1,372,185	1,395,408	1,440,312	1,426,073
26	Barcelona/El Prat	Rome/Fiumicino					1,184,506	1,315,868	1,225,834	1,332,401	1,402,757
27	Stockholm/Arlanda	Copenhagen	1,166,000	1,269,200	1,325,700	1,444,429	1,461,166	1,553,276	1,520,287	1,520,873	1,387,544
28	Barcelona/El Prat	Amsterdam/Schiphol	1,321,528	1,250,126	1,186,808	1,217,977	1,204,814	1,307,902	1,363,626	1,420,246	1,384,848
29	Stockholm/Arlanda	Oslo/Gardermoen	1,153,232	1,187,164	1,204,351	1,354,730	1,338,163	1,387,885	1,406,211	1,453,105	1,379,312
30	Barcelona/El Prat	Paris/CDG								1,279,331	1,373,128	-Orly - Madrid 1,326,509 (2018)CDG - El prat 1,279,331 (2018)Oslo - tromso 1,254,585 (2018)
			1,277,330	1,204,533	1,209,900	1,247,831	1,252,777	1,209,158(2016)	1,210,552	1,245,706 Mun - Heat 1,237,039 (2018)CDG - AMS 1,235,896 (2018)Madrid - roma 1,218,971 (2018)CDG - Rome fium 1,203,819 (2018)Bonn - Berlin 1,175,410 (2018)	30			1,026,900	1,088,700	1,288,200	1,321,336	1,259,124	1,270,452(2016)
			1,524,433	1,378,800	1,416,100	1,453,610	1,366,450	1,189,090(2016)
			952,400	1,182,200	1,307,900	1,346,948	1,178,987	1,163,471(2016)	1,181,318	1,182,288
			1,244,400	1,254,800	1,355,700	1,472,648	1,383,915	1,055,519(2016)	1,196,921
19	Athens/El. Venizelos	Thessaloniki/Macedonia	970,462	970,797	997,200	1,543,993	1,633,045	1,803,733(2016)	1,598,499	1,543,931	1,354,892
30	London/Gatwick	Dublin	923,130	937,378	978,522	993,768	1,086,701	1,309,524(2016)	1,367,231	1,347,303	1,347,219

• Figures are only available for EU countries, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway.

The UK has not reported for 2021 and parts of 2020, due to Brexit, but data is available from EU/Eurostat countries for flights to/from the UK, but not for UK domestic or UK intercontinental flights. The multiple airports of London lower the airport-to-airport figures; the busiest UK domestic route was in 2019 Heathrow – Edinburgh with 1,196,921.

Among other European (non-EU, not Switzerland, Iceland and Norway) countries, based on airport statistics, no other country than Russia, Ukraine and Turkey has domestic routes with more than 1 million passengers.

The St. Petersburg Pulkovo Airport – Moscow (three airports) route was used by 2,965,331 passengers in 2013.^[20]

• • 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.^[21]

Busiest flight routes between an airport in Europe (EU, UK, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway) and outside Europe

Eurostat

Rank	Airport 1	Airport 2	2010	2012	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
1	London/Heathrow	New York/John F Kennedy	2,551,276	2,881,390	3,002,024	3,078,693	2,960,268	2,946,329	3,035,228	3,192,195
2	London/Heathrow	Dubai/Intl	1,974,098	2,067,227	2,838,717	2,862,852	3,038,958	3,238,308	2,732,638	2,333,127
3		New York/John F Kennedy	1,190,914	1,422,259	1,367,882	1,501,416	1,424,611	1,554,793	1,580,664	1,636,491
4	London/Heathrow	Hong Kong/Chek Lap Kok	1,801,520	1,638,834	1,608,980	1,584,486	1,574,741	1,588,805	1,572,021	1,612,530
5	London/Heathrow		1,419,144	1,428,040	1,481,023	1,645,002	1,565,992	1,618,153	1,675,577	1,602,892
6	London/Heathrow	Singapore/Changi	1,507,032	1,745,186	1,247,017	1,268,407	1,314,976	1,351,980	1,590,704	1,526,639
7	Paris/Orly	Guadeloupe/Pointe-à-Pitre	1,098,322	1,077,254	1,135,945	1,166,850	1,214,916	1,227,553	1,299,570	1,429,730
8	London/Heathrow	Doha/Hamad	N/A	N/A	653,724	1,040,315	1,184,994	1,287,225	1,181,345	1,264,687
9	London/Heathrow	Chicago/O'Hare	1,138,579	1,188,326	1,161,250	1,060,332	1,073,522	1,062,695	1,158,537	1,250,426
10	Paris/CDG	Montreal/Pierre Elliott Trudeau	1,158,381	1,092,084	1,107,738	1,147,598	1,148,800	1,183,504	1,185,183	1,247,300	-Heathrow - Mumbai 1,121,800(2018) 724,449(2019)
	Paris/CDG	Dubai/Intl	716,865	843,205	1,063,559	1,076,875	1,101,546	1,148,820	1,167,935	1,185,537
10	London/Heathrow	New York/Newark Liberty	1,091,804	1,167,828	1,168,357	1,000,189	952,310(2016)	1,042,868	1,103,984 -->

For routes from the EU, UK, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway to other countries inside Europe except to Turkey, the busiest was in 2019 Paris/CDG – Moscow/Sheremetyevo with 830,980.

Busiest flight routes in or from Europe by city pairs

Eurostat

Rank	City 1	City 2	Passengers (2016)	Passengers (2019)
1			4,771,614	5,106,040
2			3,836,588	5,051,518^[22]
3	London		4,344,935	4,920,551
4	London		4,243,687	4,869,777
5	London		3,960,389	3,630,407
6	London		3,125,080	3,490,189
7	London		3,393,013	3,373,092
8			3,260,074	3,218,040
9	Paris		2,975,405	3,184,661
10	London			3,142,916

• London includes City, Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton, Stansted and Southend airports..
• New York includes Kennedy and Newark airports
• Paris includes Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and Orly airports.
• Barcelona includes El Prat and Girona airports.
• Berlin includes Schönefeld (from 2020 Brandenburg) and Tegel airports.
• Moscow includes Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo airports.
• Turkey is not included even if Istanbul – Izmir has (as of 2019) more passengers than London – Dublin, because all its domestic routes are mostly or entirely inside Asia.

Brazil (2022)

Busiest domestic flight routes in Brazil:^[23]

Rank	Airport 1	Airport 2	Passengers (2022)
1			2,978,669
2			1,630,763
3			1,565,820
4			1,545,757
5			1,524,626
6			1,494,260
7			1,290,367
8			1,234,256
9			1,169,156
10			1,142,563

Argentina (2017)

Busiest international flight routes in Argentina:^[24]

Rank	Airport 1	Airport 2	Passengers (2017)
1			2,027,000
2			1,903,000
3			1,001,000
4			938,000
5			896,000
6			815,000
7			425,000
8			372,000
9			332,000
10			329,000

Busiest domestic flight routes in Argentina:

Rank	Airport 1	Airport 2	Passengers (2017)
1			1,368,000
2			1,005,000
3			880,000
4			841,000
5			828,000
6			722,000
7			501,000
8			490,000
9			462,000
10			383,000

Australia (2019)

Busiest domestic flight routes in Australia^[25] (all passengers including connecting):

Rank	Airport 1	Airport 2	Passengers (2019)
1	Melbourne	Sydney	9,181,932
2	Brisbane	Sydney	4,820,704
3	Brisbane	Melbourne	3,608,479
4	Gold Coast	Sydney	2,733,449
5	Adelaide	Melbourne	2,538,061
6	Gold Coast	Melbourne	2,122,157
7	Melbourne	Perth	2,110,125
8	Adelaide	Sydney	1,878,741
9	Perth	Sydney	1,692,031
10	Melbourne	Hobart	1,670,181

Busiest international flight routes in Australia^[26] (all passengers including connecting):

Rank	Australian airport	Overseas airport	Passengers (2019)
1	Melbourne	Singapore	1,629,492
2	Sydney	Auckland	1,602,232
3	Sydney	Singapore	1,537,148
4	Melbourne	Auckland	1,251,457
5	Sydney	Hong Kong	1,195,224
6	Perth	Singapore	1,131,233
7	Brisbane	Singapore	964,447
8	Brisbane	Auckland	955,385
9	Sydney	Los Angeles	908,540
10	Perth	Denpasar	893,420

Colombia (2017)

Busiest domestic flight routes in Colombia:

Busiest international flight routes in Colombia:^[27]

Rank	Airport 1	Airport 2	Passengers (2017)
1			698,916
2			533,444
3			470,514
4			469,899
5			447,470
6			391,586
7			366,904
8			366,630
9			333,481
10			306,905

India (2019–2021)

Busiest domestic flight routes from/to Indian cities:

2020–2021^[28]

Rank	City pair		Passengers
1	Delhi	Mumbai	1,430,543
2	Kolkata	Bengaluru	1,262,780
3	Delhi	Srinagar	1,261,630
4	Delhi	Bengaluru	1,240,378
5	Delhi	Patna	1,072,840
6	Delhi	Hyderabad	1,065,132
7	Delhi	Kolkata	938,388
8	Delhi	Pune	809,773
9	Delhi	Goa	765,398
10	Delhi	Guwahati	747,471
11	Delhi	Chennai	739,220
12	Mumbai	Goa	730,108
13	Delhi	Ahmedabad	711,690
14	Mumbai	Bengaluru	691,598
15	Kolkata	Hyderabad	674,027

City pair!Passengers

1	Delhi	Mumbai	6,996,834
2	Delhi	Bengaluru	4,351,143
3	Mumbai	Bengaluru	3,954,618
4	Delhi	Kolkata	3,199,982
5	Delhi	Hyderabad	2,936,141
6	Delhi	Pune	2,604,253
7	Mumbai	Hyderabad	2,538,612
8	Delhi	Chennai	2,323,511
9	Mumbai	Goa	2,192,536
10	Delhi	Ahmedabad	2,184,190
11	Mumbai	Chennai	2,142,980
12	Delhi	Patna	2,133,939
13	Mumbai	Kolkata	2,012,039
14	Bengaluru	Hyderabad	2,002,020
15	Delhi	Goa	1,863,918

Busiest international flight routes from/to Indian cities:

City pair!Passengers

1	Mumbai	Dubai	2,378,916
2	Delhi	Dubai	1,966,260
3	Delhi	Bangkok	1,093,580
4	Hyderabad	Dubai	1,068,343
5	Kochi	Dubai	1,037,314
6	Chennai	Dubai	1,017,254
7	Chennai	Colombo	940,521
8	Bengaluru	Dubai	865,088
9	Chennai	Singapore	855,420
10	Delhi	London	850,170
11	Mumbai	Singapore	824,590
12	Delhi	Kathmandu	767,262
13	Mumbai	Abu Dhabi	751,112
14	Delhi	Singapore	750,562
15	Delhi	Hong Kong	743,817

Mexico (2018–2023)

Busiest domestic flight routes in Mexico (passengers):^[29]

Rank	Airport 1	Airport 2	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	% change
1			4,990,647	5,009,235	2,874,267	4,546,906	4,803,489	4,335,174	-9.75%
2		Mexico City	3,452,421	3,601,937	1,563,243	2,244,156	3,180,969	3,404,529	7.03%
3	Mexico City		3,167,438	3,386,521	1,536,441	1,940,131	2,916,413	3,012,874	3.31%
4		Mexico City	1,964,460	2,151,343	1,307,478	2,133,168	2,519,260	2,300,547	-8.68%
5	Tijuana	Guadalajara	1,783,149	1,748,213	1,301,775	1,825,055	2,209,718	2,142,087	-3.06%
6	Mexico City		1,686,256	1,851,414	909,396	1,416,257	1,943,683	1,896,586	-2.42%
7	Monterrey	Cancún	1,282,777	1,386,056	822,601	1,458,920	1,650,289	1,810,719	9.72%
8		Mexico City	956,419	1,094,694	575,158	1,008,024	1,333,474	1,140,366	-14.48%
9	Guadalajara	Cancún	947,599	885,881	635,422	1,051,887	1,026,505	1,098,997	7.06%
10		Mexico City	844,785	971,016	594,263	994,510	1,215,421	1,071,051	-11.88%
—		Mexico City	931,000	981,008	5.37%	449,484	-54.2%-->

Busiest international flight routes from/to Mexico (passengers):

Rank	Airport 1	Airport 2	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	% change
1		Dallas/Fort Worth	779,235	840,800	507,946	1,026,047	1,215,860	1,160,043	-4.59%
2	Cancun		868,115	856,952	504,622	930,801	1,112,498	1,137,242	2.22%
3		Los Angeles	993,213	994,822	530,232	787,850	903,149	1,079,804	19.56%
4			779,777	880,988	265,919	504,962	900,028	1,030,882	14.54%
5	Cancun		809,898	763,830	409,671	806,188	992,998	1,011,503	1.86%
6			849,590	866,896	233,726	432,080	912,549	925,729	1.44%
7	Mexico City		1,236,168	1,044,786	379,603	771,673	846,757	891,713	5.31%
8		Houston/Intercontinental	1,049,838	831,729	332,243	961,069	879,133	889,431	1.17%
9			721,936	706,409	303,913	586,573	759,622	884,252	16.41%
10	Cancun		801,544	822,744	298,135	119,334	546,583	772,937	41.41%
—	Mexico City		1,009,024	1,037,259	2.80%	289,245	-72.1%
—	Mexico City		663,277	770,177	336,869	723,213	825,527	41.41%
8		Los Angeles	659,810	623,855	-5.45%	308,366	-50.6%	680,253	120.60%
9	Cancun		637,467	657,623	3.16%	197,399	-69.98%	661,150	234.93%
10	Mexico City	Dallas/Fort Worth	658,552	703,307	6.80%	285,632	-59.39%	640,463	124.23%-->

Turkey (2019)

Busiest domestic and international flight routes:

Rank	Airport 1	Airport 2	Passengers (2019)
1			2,751,298
2			2,616,991
3			2,329,578
4			2,184,197
5			1,849,317
6			1,579,391
7			1,524,256
8			1,460,900
9			1,448,183
10			1,411,924

In 2019, the Atatürk – Izmir route had 728,279 passengers as the old Istanbul airport in Atatürk was also serving the traffic during this year. The new Istanbul airport in Havalimani opened on 6 April 2019.

United States (September 2014August 2015)

Busiest flight routes by city pairs within the United States:^[30]

The statistics below are based on metro areas, not individual airports.

Rank	City 1	City 2	Passengers (Sep 2014Aug 2015)
1	Chicago, IL	New York, NY	4,020,000
2	Los Angeles, CA	San Francisco, CA	3,660,000
3	Los Angeles, CA	New York, NY	3,420,000
4	Chicago, IL	Los Angeles, CA	3,010,000
5	Miami, FL	New York, NY	2,750,000
6	Atlanta, GA	Chicago, IL	2,720,000
7	Chicago, IL	Minneapolis, MN	2,720,000
8	Atlanta, GA	New York, NY	2,600,000
9	Atlanta, GA	Orlando, FL	2,620,000
10	Chicago, IL	Washington, DC	2,620,000

See also

• List of the busiest airports
• List of busiest airports by aircraft movements
• List of busiest airports by passenger traffic
• List of the busiest airports in Europe
• List of the busiest airports in the Nordic countries¹
• List of the busiest airports in the Baltic states¹

¹ Includes very detailed statistics regarding busiest passenger flight routes to/from and within this region

Notes and References

1. Web site: Busiest Flight Routes in the World 2023 OAG . 2024-04-20 . www.oag.com . en.
2. Web site: Busiest Routes 2022 . OAG . 25 April 2023.
3. Web site: World's Busiest Airline Routes of 2021 . OAG . 9 October 2022.
4. Web site: Busiest Routes 2020 . OAG . 25 April 2023.
5. Web site: Busiest routes in the world - the top 100. Routesonline. 22 September 2019 . en-GB. 2019-10-19.
6. Web site: These are the top 100 busiest routes on earth. September 2018. RoutesOnline.
7. Web site: 22 April 2022 . Australian Domestic Aviation Activity Annual Publications . bitre.gov.au.
8. Web site: Busiest passenger flight routes in the world revealed. 13 September 2018 .
9. Web site: Top 10 world's busiest flight routes. The Thaiger. 2018-10-19. 2018-11-05. Phuket.
10. 60th Edition of IATA World Air Transport Statistics Released. International Air Transport Association. Montreal. July 5, 2016.
11. Web site: SFO Fact Sheet - Calendar Year 2022 . www.flysfo.com/ . . 26 November 2023 . 12.2% of enplaned and deplaned domestic passengers.
12. Web site: The Cirium Airline Insights Review 2021 . Cirium . 10 October 2022 . 9 . PDF.
13. https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/FDX204/history/20241124/1050Z/SKBO/SKRG fedex flight 204
14. News: What Were The Busiest Routes In 2021? . 9 January 2023 . 28 December 2021.
15. Busiest routes 2019 . OAG Aviation Worldwide Limited . 2019-04-10 . OAG Aviation Worldwide Limited . OAG (company) . 2019-04-10.
16. https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/QTR8438/history/20241117/0935Z/VTBS/VHHH QTR8438 BKK-HKG
17. https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/TCACG/history/20240524/0126Z/VTBS/VHHH TK6140 bangkok-Hong Kong
18. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/transport/data/database Eurostat>Transport>Data>Database
19. Web site: Dati di Traffico 2018 . ENAC . it . 2024-06-20.
20. Web site: Airport Indicators. Pulkovo Airport.
21. http://www.eurocontrol.int/press-releases/west-east-traffic-shift-continues-summer-2012 West-to-East traffic shift continues for summer 2012 | EUROCONTROL
22. https://www.pulkovoairport.ru/en/about/performance/ Airport Indicators
23. Web site: Consulta Interativa – Indicadores do Mercado de Transporte Aéreo . 2023-03-12 . Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil (ANAC) . pt-br.
24. Web site: 2017 . Anuario Estadístico 2017 . 2018-12-16 . EANA - Navegación Aérea Argentina . 46.
25. Web site: 2020 . Australian Domestic Airline Activity 2019 . 2022-07-05 . Aviation Statistics . Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics . 3.
26. Web site: 2020 . Australian International Airline Activity 2019 . 2022-07-05 . Aviation Statistics . Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics . 10.
27. Web site: Bases de Datos / Origen - Destino / Base de Datos Origen-Destino Enero - Diciembre 2017 / Cuadro 1.6 y 1.8. 2018-12-16. 2018. XLSX. Ministerio de Transporte.
28. Web site: City pairwise scheduled domestic passenger traffic statistics for the year 2020-2021 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20220729064016/https://public-prd-dgca.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/InventoryList/dataReports/aviationDataStatistics/airTransport/domestic/yearly/24/Normal/INDIAN%20CITY%20PAIR%20WISE%20PASSENGER%20TRAFFIC/CITY%20PAIR%20WISE%20SCHEDULED%20DOMESTIC%20PASSENGER%20TRAFFIC%20STATISTICS.pdf . 2022-07-29 . 2022-07-29 . www.dgca.gov.in.
29. Web site: Traffic Statistics by City Pairs. 27 January 2024. 2024. Aviation Statistics. Agencia Federal de Aviación Civil.
30. Web site: Bureau of Transportation Statistics . United States Department of Transportation.