New York JFK to Los Angeles is the world’s number-one route if measured in available seat miles (ASMs). This is helped by distance, frequent service, a reasonable number of seats per flight, and the pandemic. In contrast, Seoul Gimpo to Jeju takes the crown if both seats and flights are used. We look at the world’s top-10 routes by ASMs this year.

There are multiple ways of looking at 'top' routes and indeed routes in general. This could be by passengers carried, number of seats on offer, number of flights, available seat miles, revenue passenger miles, total revenue, profitability, and more. Some information is fully or only partly available, while other, more accessible measures are commonly used. All have different benefits, and all provide different insights.

Earlier this week, we found that Seoul Gimpo to Jeju, just 280 miles apart, is overwhelmingly the world’s top route, with 16.5 million seats this year. It is also first by total flights. However, it’s a different story if ASMs are used, where one seat is flown one mile. Like seats, this measure of output is what’s supplied to the market, whether it’s sold or not.

JetBlue Airbus A321-231 N971JT (2)
JetBlue is the second-largest airline between JFK and Los Angeles. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying.

The world's top-10 routes this year

Los Angeles to New York JFK is the world's number-one route this year if measured by ASMs, analyzing OAG schedules data reveals. This is despite it having more than six times fewer seats than Gimpo-Jeju. Of course, in the US case, far longer distance is the primary reason.

However, JFK-Los Angeles wouldn't really be number-one without a high frequency of service, reasonable seats per flight (170), and, it must be said, the pandemic. Indeed, JFK-Los Angeles was fourth by this metric in 2019, OAG shows, behind Heathrow-JFK, Heathrow-Singapore, and Heathrow-Hong Kong. Only one of these three Heathrow routes is presently in the top-10.

Stay aware: Sign up for my weekly new routes newsletter.

  1. Los Angeles-New York JFK: 6.30 billion ASMs this year
  2. Honolulu to Los Angeles: 6.27 billion
  3. Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City: 6.26 million
  4. Heathrow-JFK: 5.44 billion
  5. Okinawa-Tokyo Haneda: 5.42 billion
  6. Beijing Capital-Shanghai Hongqiao: 5.38 billion
  7. Paris Orly-Réunion: 5.33 billion
  8. Paris Orly-Pointe-à-Pitre: 4.95 billion
  9. Beijing Capital-Chengdu 4.88 billion
  10. Shanghai Hongqiao-Shenzhen: 4.82 billion
Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-8H4 N8696E (3)
Although ranking second, Honolulu to Los Angeles deserves a special mention. In 2019, it wasn’t even in the world’s top-30 routes by ASMs, so its climb has been significant, helped by the fall of others. However, this broad leisure market has done well in its own right, with ASMs down by only 5% versus 2019, the result of Southwest entering and becoming the seventh non-stop operator. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying.

New York JFK to Los Angeles

Five airlines fly the 2,475 miles between the two coasts this year, one more than in 2019. This follows United's resumption of JFK in March 2021 after ending it in October 2015. Now, it has a twice-daily operation utilizing 167-seat Boeing 767-300ERs with 48 Polaris seats.

UA 767-300ER
United resumed JFK-Los Angeles earlier this year. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying.

As shown below, Delta is firmly the largest operator between JFK and Los Angeles, with 44% of ASMs. We can see why by looking at flights and seats, for which it also has the greatest number compared with the others. While Delta's coast-to-coast flights are only very marginally above American's this year, it offsets this with 70% more seats.

This is because Delta's average seats per flight is double that of American's, at 232 versus 115. After all, while Delta primarily uses B767-400ERs and B767-300ERs, American mainly uses low-capacity, three-class A321s (together with B777-200ERs earlier in the year) that are geared for premium demand.

  1. Delta: 43.9% of total JFK-Los Angeles ASMs
  2. JetBlue: 26.0%
  3. American: 21.6%
  4. United: 6.3%
  5. Alaska: 2.3%

What is your preferred airline from coast to coast? Let us know in the comments.