List of busiest passenger flight routes, 2020s

Last updated September 21, 2025

These are lists of the busiest flight routes by the number of passengers flown, by seat capacity and by aircraft movements in the 2020s.

Global statistics

By available seats

The following are the lists of the world's busiest flight routes based on the number of seats available in the flights scheduled in both directions. Note that these statistics do not consider the number of passengers actually carried (load factor). OAG did not conduct the busiest flights survey in 2020.

Top 10 most capacitated flight routes

Rank	Airport 1	Airport 2	Distance (km)	2024^[1]	2023^[2]	2022^[3]	2021^[4]
1	Jeju	Seoul–Gimpo	449	14,183,719	13,728,786	16,068,983	17,082,700
2	Sapporo–Chitose	Tokyo–Haneda	835	11,931,572	11,936,302	10,216,765	8,171,324
3	Fukuoka	Tokyo–Haneda	889	11,335,551	11,264,229	9,894,296	7,562,387
4	Hanoi	Ho Chi Minh City	1171	10,631,435	10,883,555	8,562,009	6,806,131
5	Sydney	Melbourne	705	9,217,377	9,342,312	6,996,156
6	Jeddah	Riyadh	857	8,700,415	7,902,142	7,371,119	6,677,097
7	Tokyo–Haneda	Naha	1573	8,033,641	7,982,218	6,910,809	5,602,408
8	Mumbai	Delhi	1150	7,963,686	7,276,430	6,941,947	4,891,881
9	Beijing–Capital	Shanghai–Hongqiao	1081	7,714,758	8,355,225	6,321,194	7,910,793
10	Guangzhou	Shanghai–Hongqiao	1176	7,010,321			6,350,115
	Jakarta	Denpasar	991		7,190,961	6,741,923	3,939,509
	Shanghai–Hongqiao	Shenzhen	1217				6,555,365
	Seoul–Gimpo	Busan	328				6,297,916
	Cancún	Mexico City	1294				5,604,043
	Jakarta	Makassar	1439				4,895,779
	Chengdu	Beijing–Capital	1559				4,734,834
	Tokyo–Haneda	Osaka–Itami	407				4,728,321
	Jeju	Busan	293				4,176,876
	Jakarta	Medan	1401				4,060,426
	Cape Town	Johannesburg	1292				4,001,680
	Beijing–Capital	Shenzhen	1979				3,978,144
#	Hong Kong	Taipei–Taoyuan	802	6,781,577	4,568,280		1,296,969

Most capacitated international flight routes (airport pairs)

Rank	Airport 1	Airport 2	2024^[1]	2023^[2]	2022^[3]	2021^[4]^[5]
1	Hong Kong	Taipei-Taoyuan	6,781,577	4,568,280		1,296,969
2	Cairo	Jeddah	5,469,274	4,795,712	3,234,683	2,031,882
3	Seoul-Incheon	Tokyo-Narita	5,410,456	4,155,418
4	Kuala Lumpur	Singapore	5,382,163	4,891,952	2,443,176
5	Seoul-Incheon	Osaka-Kansai	4,982,769	4,218,484
6	Dubai	Riyadh	4,306,599	3,990,076	3,191,090	1,540,444
7	Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi	Hong Kong	4,201,802
8	Jakarta	Singapore	4,069,071	3,910,502
9	Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi	Singapore	4,033,344	3,478,474
10	London–Heathrow	New York–JFK	4,011,235	3,878,590	2,848,044	1,364,286
	Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi	Seoul-Incheon		3,362,968
	Dubai	London–Heathrow			2,697,593	1,298,756
	Dubai	Jeddah			2,425,930
	Mumbai	Dubai			1,977,537
	Cairo	Riyadh			1,913,991	1,357,685
	Delhi	Dubai			1,898,749	1,381,137
	Moscow Domodedovo	Simferopol				2,333,305
	Orlando	San Juan				2,025,654
	Moscow Sheremetyevo	Simferopol				2,000,319
	Tehran Imran Khomeini	Istanbul				1,404,075
	Bahrain	Dubai				1,319,732
	Cancun	Dallas/Fort Worth				1,305,749
	New York–JFK	Santiago (DO)				1,304,148
	Antalya	Moscow Sheremetyevo				1,293,937
	Houston	Mexico City				1,282,394
	Dubai	Istanbul				1,221,880
	New York–JFK	Santo Domingo				1,199,942
	Dubai	Male				1,166,944

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 1	Airport 2	# of flights^[6] (Jan – Nov 2021)	Airlines (2021)
1	Jeju (CJU)	Seoul (GMP)	71,388	Air Busan, Air Seoul, Hi Air, Jeju Air, Jin Air, Korean Air, T'way Air
2	Seoul (GMP)	Busan (PUS)	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
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)	Shenzhen (SZX)	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)	Ho Chi Minh City (SGN)	18,342	Bamboo Airways, Pacific Airlines, VietJet Air, Vietnam Airlines, Vietravel Airlines
10	Bogotá (BOG)	Rionegro (MDE)	18,086	Avianca, LATAM, Ultra Air, Viva Air, Wingo
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)	Busan (PUS)	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, FlySafair, LIFT Airline, South African Airways
17	Chengdu (CTU)	Beijing (PEK)	15,180	Air China, Hainan Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines
18	Los Angeles (LAX)	Las Vegas (LAS)	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, Ultra Air, Viva Air, Wingo

International

The only international route to make the Top 50 busiest routes in 2021 was between Saint Barthélemy (SBH) and Sint Maarten (SXM).^[7]

Regional statistics

Europe

Busiest flight routes inside the EU, UK, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway. Figures are only available for EU countries, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway.^[a]^[b]^[c]

Data retrieved from Eurostat, 2020–2022^[9]
Rank	Airport 1	Airport 2	2022	2021	2020
1	Barcelona/El Prat	Palma de Mallorca	2,033,205	1,220,540	820,742
2	Madrid/Barajas	Palma de Mallorca	1,877,938	1,140,759	793,794
3	Oslo/Gardermoen	Trondheim	1,839,520	1,005,775	918,615
4	Oslo/Gardermoen	Bergen	1,737,598	991,026	869,489
5	Madrid/Barajas	Barcelona/El Prat	1,715,592	1,013,754	754,090
6	Rome/Fiumicino	Catania	1,541,879	1,060,641	648,964
7	Madrid/Barajas	Lisbon	1,538,344	573,206	415,465
8	Madrid/Barajas	Gran Canaria	1,430,978	937,084	638,092
9	Oslo/Gardermoen	Stavanger	1,392,824	785,512	720,102
10	Madrid/Barajas	Tenerife Norte	1,291,140	875,428	617,739
11	Athens/El. Venizelos	Thessaloniki/Macedonia	1.204,852	826,643	551,914
	Rome/Fiumicino	Palermo/Falcone Borsellino	1,176,181	741,588	549,692
	Oslo/Gardermoen	Tromsø		722,576	606,927
	Madrid/Barajas	Paris/Orly	1,371,546	707,707	460,765
	Paris/CDG	Nice		699,762	744,588
	Athens/El. Venizelos	Heraklion		650,400	504,120
	Athens/El. Venizelos	Larnaca		622,148	427,252
	Madrid/Barajas	Ibiza		610,232	368,182
	Amsterdam	Barcelona/El Prat		608,458	377,835
	Berlin/Brandenburg	Frankfurt/Main		574,588	382,232
	Amsterdam	Paris/CDG		574,320	495,151
	Paris/CDG	Amsterdam/Schiphol		570,825	492,723
	Athens/El. Venizelos	Santorini		569,193	294,903
	Aalborg	Copenhagen		557,869	353,196
	Berlin/Brandenburg	Palma de Mallorca
	Paris/CDG	Toulouse		497,045	521,138
	Larnaca	Athens/El. Venizelos		485,950	392,679
	Oslo/Gardermoen	Bodø		480,661	398,431
	Stockholm/Arlanda	Luleå		467,608	402,949
	Amsterdam/Schiphol	Madrid/Barajas	1,207,458	458,560	359,582
	Rome/Fiumicino	Cagliari, Sardinia		457,430	363,665
	Rome/Fiumicino	Madrid/Barajas		457,135	291,571
	Madrid/Barajas	Rome/Fiumicino	1,291,186	457,111	288,463
	Amsterdam/Schiphol	Lisbon		442,593	332,296
	Athens/El. Venizelos	Paris/CDG		435,115	297,056
	Amsterdam/Schiphol	Málaga/Costa del Sol		430,838	229,366
	Athens/El. Venizelos	Rhodes		428,845	294,090
	Athens/El. Venizelos	Chania, Crete		427,966	274,263
	Madrid/Barajas	London/Heathrow		425,692	454,469
	Paris/CDG	Barcelona/El Prat		420,862	348,322
	Paris/CDG	Bordeaux		413,802	295,201
	Madrid/Barajas	Frankfurt/Main		413,715	304,230
	Copenhagen	Oslo/Gardermoen		412,499	413,728
	Brussels	Madrid/Barajas		410,557	279,122
	Madrid/Barajas	Brussels		410,359	278,738
	Rome/Fiumicino	Paris/CDG		406,047	344,462
	Oslo/Gardermoen	Copenhagen		405,422	405,748
	Dublin	London/Heathrow		404,011	445,413
	Oslo/Gardermoen	Harstad/Narvik		403,916	319,663
	Paris/CDG	Rome/Fiumicino		402,923	343,027

National statistics

Brazil

Busiest domestic flight routes in Brazil by passengers^[10]
Rank	Airport 1	Airport 2	2022
1	Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont	São Paulo-Congonhas	2,978,669
2	Porto Alegre	São Paulo-Congonhas	1,630,763
3	Brasília	São Paulo-Congonhas	1,565,820
4	Recife	São Paulo-Guarulhos	1,545,757
5	Porto Alegre	São Paulo-Guarulhos	1,524,626
6	Belo Horizonte	São Paulo-Congonhas	1,494,260
7	Salvador	São Paulo-Congonhas	1,290,367
8	Belo Horizonte	São Paulo-Guarulhos	1,234,256
9	Recife	São Paulo-Congonhas	1,169,156
10	Brasília	Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont	1,142,563

China

Busiest domestic flight routes in China by seats
Rank	Airport 1	Airport 2	2024^[1]	2023^[2]
1	Beijing	Shanghai Hongqiao	7,714,758	8,355,225
2	Guangzhou Baiyun	Shanghai Hongqiao	7,010,321	7,162,999
3	Shanghai Hongqiao	Shenzhen	6,856,215	6,969,789
4	Beijing	Shenzhen	5,603,413	5,273,976
5	Guangzhou Baiyun	Hangzhou	4,642,437	4,662,975
6	Chengdu	Beijing	4,600,812	4,161,165
7	Guangzhou Baiyun	Beijing	4,272,117	3,783,605
8	Hangzhou	Shenzhen	4,266,024	4,281,873
9	Guangzhou Baiyun	Beijing Daxing	4,132,304	4,269,799
10	Chongqing	Shenzhen	3,239,066
	Beijing Daxing	Shenzhen		3,302,381

India

Busiest domestic flight routes from/to Indian cities by passengers
Rank	Airport 1	Airport 2	2023–2024^[11]	2020–2021^[12]
1	Delhi	Mumbai	6,466,940	1,430,543
2	Bengaluru	Delhi	4,779,347	1,240,378
3	Bengaluru	Mumbai	4,433,746	691,598
4	Delhi	Hyderabad	2,916,911	1,065,132
5	Delhi	Kolkata	2,821,077	938,388
6	Delhi	Pune	2,805,587	809,773
7	Delhi	Srinagar	2,625,483	1,261,630
8	Mumbai	Chennai	2,486,921
9	Delhi	Ahmedabad	2,402,170	711,690
10	Delhi	Chennai	2,317,258	739,220
11	Mumbai	Hyderabad	2,248,905
12	Bengaluru	Hyderabad	2,140,533
13	Mumbai	Ahmedabad	2,108,650
14	Bengaluru	Kolkata	1,957,504
15	Bengaluru	Pune	1,783,570
-	Kolkata	Bengaluru		1,262,780
-	Delhi	Patna		1,072,840
-	Delhi	Goa		765,398
-	Delhi	Guwahati		747,471
-	Mumbai	Goa		730,108
-	Kolkata	Hyderabad		674,027

Mexico

Busiest domestic flight routes in Mexico by passengers^[13]
Rank	Airport 1	Airport 2	2023	2022	2021	2020
1	Mexico City	Cancún	4,335,174	4,803,489	4,546,906	2,874,267
2	Monterrey	Mexico City	3,404,529	3,180,969	2,244,156	1,563,243
3	Mexico City	Guadalajara	3,012,874	2,916,413	1,940,131	1,536,441
4	Tijuana	Mexico City	2,300,547	2,519,260	2,133,168	1,307,478
5	Tijuana	Guadalajara	2,142,087	2,209,718	1,825,055	1,301,775
6	Mexico City	Mérida	1,896,586	1,943,683	1,416,257	909,396
7	Monterrey	Cancún	1,810,719	1,650,289	1,458,920	822,601
8	Puerto Vallarta	Mexico City	1,140,366	1,333,474	1,008,024	575,158
9	Guadalajara	Cancún	1,098,997	1,026,505	1,051,887	635,422
10	San José del Cabo	Mexico City	1,071,051	1,215,421	994,510	594,263

Busiest international flight routes from/to Mexico by passengers
Rank	Airport 1	Airport 2	2023	2022	2021	2020
1	Cancún	Dallas/Fort Worth	1,160,043	1,215,860	1,026,047	507,946
2	Cancún	Houston/Intercontinental	1,137,242	1,112,498	930,801	504,622
3	Guadalajara	Los Angeles	1,079,804	903,149	787,850	530,232
4	Mexico City	Madrid	1,030,882	900,028	504,962	265,919
5	Cancún	Chicago/O'Hare	1,011,503	992,998	806,188	409,671
6	Mexico City	Bogotá	925,729	912,549	432,080	233,726
7	Mexico City	Los Angeles	891,713	846,757	771,673	379,603
8	Mexico City	Houston/Intercontinental	889,431	879,133	961,069	332,243
9	Cancún	Atlanta	884,252	759,622	586,573	303,913
10	Cancún	Toronto-Pearson	772,937	546,583	119,334	298,135

Notes

↑ 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.^[8]

References

1 2 3 "Busiest Flight Routes in the World 2024". www.oag.com. Retrieved 2024-12-17.
1 2 3 "Busiest Flight Routes in the World 2023". www.oag.com. Retrieved 2024-04-20.
1 2 "Busiest Routes 2022" (PDF). OAG. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
1 2 "World's Busiest Airline Routes of 2021". OAG. Archived from the original on 2022-08-17. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
↑ OAG. "Busiest Int'l 2021". flo.uri.sh. Retrieved 2025-09-13.
↑ "The Cirium Airline Insights Review 2021" (PDF). Cirium. p. 9. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
↑ "What Were The Busiest Routes In 2021?". 28 December 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
↑ "Airport Indicators". Pulkovo Airport.
↑ Eurostat>Transport>Data>Database Search the "avia_par_fr", "avia_par_no" etc datasets (accessed May 2022)
↑ "Consulta Interativa – Indicadores do Mercado de Transporte Aéreo". Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil (ANAC) (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2023-03-12.
↑ "Directorate General of Civil Aviation".
↑ "City pairwise scheduled domestic passenger traffic statistics for the year 2020-2021" (PDF). www.dgca.gov.in. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-07-29. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
↑ "Traffic Statistics by City Pairs". Aviation Statistics. Agencia Federal de Aviación Civil. 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.

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[8] 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.

[9] 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.

[11] The St. Petersburg Pulkovo Airport – Moscow (three airports) route was used by 2,965,331 passengers in 2013.^[8]

[World24-1] 1 2 3 "Busiest Flight Routes in the World 2024". www.oag.com. Retrieved 2024-12-17.

[World23-2] 1 2 3 "Busiest Flight Routes in the World 2023". www.oag.com. Retrieved 2024-04-20.

[World22-3] 1 2 "Busiest Routes 2022" (PDF). OAG. Retrieved 25 April 2023.

[World21-4] 1 2 "World's Busiest Airline Routes of 2021". OAG. Archived from the original on 2022-08-17. Retrieved 9 October 2022.

[5] OAG. "Busiest Int'l 2021". flo.uri.sh. Retrieved 2025-09-13.

[6] "The Cirium Airline Insights Review 2021" (PDF). Cirium. p. 9. Retrieved 10 October 2022.

[7] "What Were The Busiest Routes In 2021?". 28 December 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2023.

[10] "Airport Indicators". Pulkovo Airport.

[Eurostat-12] Eurostat>Transport>Data>Database Search the "avia_par_fr", "avia_par_no" etc datasets (accessed May 2022)

[13] "Consulta Interativa – Indicadores do Mercado de Transporte Aéreo". Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil (ANAC) (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2023-03-12.

[14] "Directorate General of Civil Aviation".

[15] "City pairwise scheduled domestic passenger traffic statistics for the year 2020-2021" (PDF). www.dgca.gov.in. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-07-29. Retrieved 2022-07-29.

[mexsct-16] "Traffic Statistics by City Pairs". Aviation Statistics. Agencia Federal de Aviación Civil. 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.

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