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Hong Kong to Taipei is the world's busiest international flight route, according to a report published on Tuesday by air travel intelligence provider OAG.
The route has topped the list in 2024, with a total of 6.8 million seats — 48% higher than last year but 15% below 2019 levels, when it last appeared at the top of the list.
OAG's annual report, which examines global airline schedule data spanning from January to December 2024 and compares it to 2019 — before the COVID-19 pandemic — found that most of the busiest international routes are in the Asia-Pacific region.
The second most popular, with 5.5 million seats, was from Cairo to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The only route on the list in North America and Europe was between New York JFK and London Heathrow, which was ranked number 10 with 4 million seats, a 5% increase compared to 2019.
Here's the full top 10 list:
- Hong Kong to Taipei: 6.78 million seats
- Cairo to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: 5.47 million seats
- Seoul to Tokyo: 5.41 million seats
- Kuala Lumpur to Singapore: 5.38 million seats
- Seoul to Osaka: 4.98 million seats
- Dubai to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: 4.31 million seats
- Bangkok to Hong Kong: 4.20 million seats
- Jakarta to Singapore: 4.07 million seats
- Bangkok to Singapore: 4.03 million seats
- New York JFK to London Heathrow: 4.01 million seats
Domestic airline routes were significantly busier than international ones.
The busiest route overall is in South Korea, a roughly 280-mile journey between the island of Jeju and Seoul's Gimpo airport. The route provided over 14 million seats in 2024, which, despite being the world's busiest, was a 19% fall compared to pre-pandemic numbers.
Per the OAG report, eight of the 10 busiest domestic flight routes were in Asia, including flights in Japan, China, India, and Vietnam.
No routes in North America or Europe were ranked in the top 10. The most popular route in North America connected Vancouver to Toronto, with 3.5 million seats.
The busiest domestic route in the United States was Atlanta-Orlando, which trailed slightly behind the Canadian route with just under 3.5 million seats in 2024.
Honolulu-Kahului ranked third in North America with 3.4 million seats. It was followed by Las Vegas-Los Angeles and a route connecting Denver to Phoenix.
In Europe, the top route was Barcelona to Palma in Spain, which had nearly 3 million seats. Half of Europe's busiest 10 routes were in Spain, OAG said.
