Now that we are in October, the time has come for global travel data specialists OAG to publish its latest 'Busiest Routes' report. The document analyzes the world's busiest air routes across various markets and metrics. With this in mind, let's take a look at the busiest international routes in the world, as measured by the number of available seats from October 2021 to September 2022.
5 Kuala Lumpur - Singapore
Ranking fifth on the list, we have the intra-Asia corridor between Kuala Lumpur International (KUL) and Singapore Changi (SIN). In the last year, airlines made a total of 2,443,176 seats available on this route. It is unsurprising that such a corridor ranks so highly, given that it links two of the largest air hubs in Southeast Asia.
Singapore has consistently been Kuala Lumpur's busiest international destination, and there is also a reasonable amount of freight traffic between the two cities. Passenger flights along this corridor are operated by the likes of AirAsia, Batik Air Malaysia, Jetstar Asia, KLM, Malaysia Airlines, Scoot, and Singapore Airlines.
4 Dubai - London Heathrow
Just ahead of Kuala Lumpur-Singapore is the corridor between Dubai International (DXB) and London Heathrow (LHR). Overall, a total of 2,697,593 seats were made available on this intercontinental route between October 2021 and September 2022, despite being served by fewer airlines. Indeed, just BA and Emirates currently connect the pair, with Royal Brunei joining the party next month.
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3 New York JFK - London Heathrow
London Heathrow Airport appears for a second time in the top 5 as we make our way onto the podium, with the corridor between there and New York JFK ranking third. In the last year, 2,848,044 seats were available on this historically busy route.
This corridor has received a welcome boost in the last year, with the arrival of JetBlue's new services that use the Airbus A321LR. The route's four other operators are American Airlines, British Airways, Delta Air Lines, and Virgin Atlantic.
2 Dubai - Riyadh
Moving into second place, we have the first instance of a route having had more than three million available seats in the last year. Indeed a total of 3,191,090 were made available between Dubai and King Khalid International (RUH) in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia in the past 12 months, offered by a variety of airlines.
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Unsurprisingly, Dubai-based UAE flag carrier Emirates is one such airline, along with Saudi Arabian national carrier Saudia. The other three operators with a presence on this Middle Eastern corridor are Flyadeal, flydubai, and Flynas.
1 Cairo - Jeddah
Top of the pile in terms of the world's busiest international air routes between October 2021 and September 2022 when it came to available seats was the corridor between Cairo International (CAI) and Jeddah King Abdulaziz International (JED).
All in all, an impressive total of 3,234,683 seats were made available for this city pairing in the last 12 months. These were offered by Air Arabia Egypt, Air Cairo, EgyptAir, Flyadeal, FlyEgypt, Flynas, Nesma Airlines, Nile Air, and Saudia.
How many of the world's busiest international routes did you fly on in the last year? Are you surprised at the makeup of the top 5, or is it as you'd expect? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!
Source: OAG