As it will be a few months until full-year passenger statistics are available via booking data, I look at the world's busiest (or largest) routes in 2022 by both flights and available seat miles (ASMs) using Cirium data. As each measures something different, they produce completely different results. It follows my look at the most used aircraft of 2022.

World's busiest routes: by flights

As shown in the table below, the top 10 routes are domestic, and all are within Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. Leading the pack, as usual, is Seoul Gimpo to Jeju, located some 280 miles (450km) apart. More significant is how it had 85% more flights than number two, Melbourne-Sydney.

Jakarta-Medan and Jakarta-Makassar entered the top 10, replacing São Paulo Congonhas-Rio Santos Dumont and Jakarta-Surabaya. Of course, this is about airport pairs; results would be different if examining city pairs.

The South Korean island of Jeju is so popular because it is easy and cheap to reach, involves a short flight (less than 50 minutes), and has some of the best scenery and beaches in South Korea. The massive amount of air service is because there is no real alternative to reach the island. Nine airlines operated last year; almost half of the flights were by Asiana and Korean Air, rising to a substantial majority when their subsidiaries are included.

Ranking

Route

2022 departing flights (max daily this year)

2019 ranking

Find flights

1

Seoul Gimpo-Jeju

44,180 (133)

1

Click here for Seoul-Jeju flights

2

Melbourne-Sydney

23,908 (97)

2

Click here for Melbourne-Sydney flights

3

Jakarta-Denpasar Bali

21,980 (79)

9

Click here for Jakarta-Bali flights

4

Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City

21,574 (70)

3

Click here for Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh flights

5

Tokyo Haneda-Fukuoka

19,017 (62)

5

Click here for Tokyo-Fukuoka flights

6

Tokyo Haneda-Sapporo

18,816 (64)

6

Click here for Tokyo-Sapporo flights

7

Jakarta-Medan

18,298 (55)

46

Click here for Jakarta-Medan flights

8

Mumbai-Delhi

18,258 (57)

4

Click here for Mumbai-Delhi flights

9

Riyadh-Jeddah

18,059 (58)

7

Click here for Riyadh-Jeddah flights

10

Jakarta-Makassar

16,964 (56)

24

Click here for Jakarta-Makassar flights

VietJet Airbus A321neo
Photo: Airbus.

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World's busiest routes: by ASMs

ASMs are a standard aviation industry measurement. They mean one seat flown one mile. As aircraft size and distance influence the results, it's why London Heathrow-New York JFK tops the table and why there's no sign of Gimpo-Jeju, Melbourne-Sydney, and most of the others shown above when only departures were considered.

Notice that four more domestic markets entered the top 10 this year, reflecting the continuation of the pandemic, especially in Asia, which knocked down other routes. London Heathrow-Hong Kong, which was third globally by ASMs in 2019, wasn't in the top 10 this year. Nor was Sydney-Los Angeles, San Francisco-Hong Kong, or Melbourne-Singapore. Most should all reappear in 2023.

Ranking

Route

2022 ASMs

2019 ranking

1

London Heathrow-New York JFK

5.37 billion

1

2

Dubai-London Heathrow

4.57 billion

6

3

Los Angeles-London Heathrow

4.24 billion

4

4

London Heathrow-Singapore

4.15 billion

2

5

New York JFK-Los Angeles

4.03 billion

5

6

Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City

3.60 billion

21

7

Singapore-Sydney

3.55 billion

8

8

Toronto-Vancouver

3.50 billion

16

9

Tokyo Haneda-Okinawa

3.45 billion

15

10

Los Angeles-Honolulu

3.24 billion

17

Close up nose view of Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787-9
Photo: Arseniy Shemyakin | Shutterstock

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Heathrow-JFK

Heathrow-JFK had up to 19 daily departing flights with five carriers this year. There was an average of 263 seats per flight, down versus 2019 from the entry of JetBlue with its A321LRs, the removal of BA's 747-400s, and Virgin's greater use of lower-capacity A330-300s and 787-9s.

What do you make of it all? Let us know in the comment section.