Asia Dominates International and Global Domestic Routes; London Heathrow Among the Top 5 Busiest Global Airports in the World

Key Findings:

Cairo (CAI) to Jeddah (JED) is the #2 busiest global international route, followed by Hong Kong (HKG) to Taipei (TPE) at #3.
London Heathrow (LHR) to New York (JFK) is the #8 busiest global international route.
Dubai (DXB) to London Heathrow (LHR) and Lisbon (LIS) to Madrid (MAD) rank as the #5 and #10 busiest routes in EMEA.

OAG, the leading data platform for the global travel industry, today revealed its 2023 Busiest Routes in the world. The analysis is powered by OAG's Global Airline Schedules Data and provides an overview of route performance and trends, both internationally and domestically.

Once again Asia-Pacific has the busiest routes in the world, claiming 7 of the Top 10 global international and 9 global domestic routes. The busiest global international route is Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Singapore Changi (SIN) with 4.9 million seats. Cairo (CAI) to Jeddah (JED) is #2 with 4.8 million seats, up from 3.4 million in 2019.

London Heathrow (LHR) is the #4 Busiest Global Airport in the world this year with 49,370,859 seats. Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) ranks #1 and Dubai International Airport (DXB) ranks #2.

Of the busiest domestic routes, Beijing (PEK) to Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA) is #1 in China and Honolulu (HNL) to Kahului (OGG) is the busiest in the U.S.

“Asia continues to have the busiest routes in the world due to its popularity as a tourism hotspot,” said John Grant, chief analyst at OAG. “Although capacity is not back to 2019 levels, London Heathrow remains a pivotal hub for global air travel.”

For more insights, view the full analysis here.

About OAG

OAG is the leading data platform for the global travel industry, powering the growth and innovation of the air travel ecosystem since 1929. It has the largest and most established independent network of flight schedules and flight status data in the world. Headquartered in the UK, OAG has operations in the USA, Singapore, Japan, China, and Lithuania. For more information, visit: www.oag.com and follow us on Twitter @OAG Aviation.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231220639267/en/

Press
Chrissy Azevedo, Corporate Ink for OAG
pressoffice@oag.com

Tags

More Like This

Hong Kong (HKG) to Taipei (TPE) is the World’s Busiest International Airline Route in 2024, Latest OAG Data Reveals

London Heathrow Remains #1 Most Connected Airport in the World, OAG Data Reveals

South Korea’s Jeju (CJU)-Seoul Gimpo (GMP) is the World’s Busiest Airline Route in 2025, Latest OAG Data Reveals

Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Remains World’s Busiest Airport for 2024, OAG’s Data Confirms

Atlanta Retains Crown as World’s Busiest Airport 2025 While Dubai Gains Ground, OAG Data Reveals

Heathrow Reigns as World’s Most Connected Airport in OAG Megahubs Tenth Anniversary Ranking

AirAsia X goes global with launch of Kuala Lumpur-Bahrain-London route, establishing Bahrain as its first strategic hub to Europe

Indian Airports Dominate Cirium’s 2023 On-Time Performance Review