Dubai-Riyadh 6th busiest international travel route as Asian business hubs dominate

DUBAI: Asian business hubs dominated international flight traffic in 2024 with 7 of the top 10 international busiest routes belonging to the region, according to The Busiest Flight Routes report published by OAG, a data platform for the global travel industry, on Tuesday.

The findings showed that all routes across Asia Pacific saw significant growth during the year as the post-pandemic recovery continued.

Hong Kong-Taipei led the way with over 6.7 million seats. Cairo-Jeddah came in second place with over 5.4 million seats followed by Seoul-Tokyo. Dubai-Riyadh, which came in sixth place, collated over 4.3 million passengers, and a 37% capacity growth since 2019.

Dubai’s DXB airport tops Middle East ranking of most connected airports in the world: report

The busiest air routes are defined as those with the largest volume of scheduled airline seats in the year 2024, according to OAG.

The results were collated from the period spanning from January to December 2024, powered by OAG’s Global Airline Schedules Data, to offer a comprehensive view of route performance and trends.

“One of the most interesting developments is the growth in regional Middle East markets with a particular emphasis on Saudi Arabia where the Vision 2030 project continues to drive both business and leisure demand,” John Grant, chief analyst at OAG, was quoted as saying by a press release issued on Tuesday by OAG.

Middle East-International: For flights originating or flying to the Middle East, the most popular route was Cairo-Jeddah with over 5.4 million passengers flown.

Dubai-London came in third place with over 3.1 million seats, followed by Cairo-Riyadh, Dubai-Jeddah and Mumbai-Dubai.

Dubai-Kuwait (7th place), Delhi-Dubai (8th place) and Bahrain-Dubai(10th place) were other popular routes in 2024.

European routes

Among European routes, New York-London led the European sector with over 4 million passengers flown in 2024, while Dubai-Turkey came in ninth place with over 2 million seats.

Other popular routes within this region included Lisbon-Madrid (5th place), Rome-Madrid (3rd place) and Frankfurt-London (10th place)

Domestic routes: Within the Middle East, Jeddah-Riyadh proved the most popular route with over 8.7 million passengers in 2024. Madinah-Riyadh came in 6th place with over 1.9 million passengers.

Among domestic travel, Jeju-Seoul dominated the list with over 14 million seats. Jeddah-Riyadh came in 6th place with over 8.7 million seats and Mumbai-Delhi was in 8th place.

Within North America, Vancouver-Toronto was the most popular route, servicing over 3.4 million passengers. New York-Los Angeles came in 7th place with over 3.1 million seats, while Las Vegas-Los Angeles came in 6th place.

Top 10 Busiest International Flight Routes of 2024

1. Hong Kong International Airport (HKG)-Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taipei (TPE): 6.8 million seats;

2. Cairo International Airport (CAI)-King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah (JED): 5.47 million seats;

3. Incheon International Airport, Seoul (ICN)-Narita International Airport, Tokyo (NRT): 5.4 million seats;

4. Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Kuala Lumpur (KUL)-Changi Airport, Singapore (SIN): 5.38 million seats;

5. Incheon International Airport, Seoul (ICN)-Kansai International Airport, Osaka (KIX): 4.98 million seats;

6. Dubai International Airport (DXB)-King Khalid International Airport, Riyadh (RUH): 4.3 million seats;

7. Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok (BKK)-Hong Kong International Airport (HKG): 4.2 million seats;

8. Soekarno–Hatta International Airport, Jakarta (CGK)-Changi Airport, Singapore (SIN): 4.07 million seats;

9. Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok (BKK)-Changi Airport, Singapore (SIN): 4.03 million seats;

10. John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York (JFK)-Heathrow Airport, London (LHR): 4.01 million seats.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024