By Ron Chen, Bureau Chief, Asia & Emmanuel Oluebube, Bureau Chief, UK

The leading data platform for the global travel industry, OAG has 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 US.

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