Almost the entire world’s 20 busiest air routes are in East Asia and there is no such thing as a presence from either Europe or the US.
According to a survey by Routesonline, Hong Kong is well ahead of the remainder of the world when it comes to high-intensity international air travel.
Eight of the 20 hottest routes depart or terminate at Chek Lap Kok Airport, including the busiest: Hong Kong to Taipei, serving greater than 450,000 passengers in July alone.
That’s greater than 10 people per minute flying the five hundred miles between the 2 cities across the clock.
Cathay Pacific carries almost half of the passengers on this route, with the remainder divided between Hong Kong Airlines and Taiwanese carriers Eva Air and China Airlines.
There are five routes in Singapore’s top 20, including the second and third hottest routes: to Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur, respectively.
Other cities that stand out within the rankings include Osaka, Bangkok and Manila. Two cities, Tokyo and Seoul, have two airports, each in the highest twenty.
The highest-rated non-Asian route is from Moscow Domodedovo to Simferopol in Crimea (twelfth) and served 186,000 passengers in July.
While the world community considers Crimea to be Ukrainian territory – making the air connection a world route – the Ministry of Foreign Affairs notes: “Russian forces and pro-Russian groups have established full operational control in Crimea.”
The only other non-Asian connection is between Dusseldorf and Palma on Majorca and ranks sixteenth with around 166,000 passengers. This route is extremely seasonal and far fewer people travel it in winter.
Routesonline researchers say: “The busiest international routes were calculated using OAG to find the top 100 global routes by capacity as of July 2017 and then ranked according to Saber passenger statistics.”
London, which serves way more international airline passengers than some other city, doesn’t appear within the study – which only looks at airport-to-airport connections, not city-to-city connections.
If all of the capital’s airports were included, the route from London to Dublin can be second only to Hong Kong-Taipei when it comes to the variety of passengers transported.
The world’s busiest domestic air routes carry significantly more passengers, with Seoul-Jeju Island far ahead of the pack.
The busiest international air routes on the planet based on the variety of passengers carried in July
1 Hong Kong-Taipei 451 801
2 Jakarta – Singapore 322 488
3 Kuala Lumpur – Singapore 269,395
4 Seoul Incheon – Osaka Kansai 233 920
5 Hong Kong-Shanghai Pudong 225 888
6 Taipei-Osaka Kansai 200 131
7 Seoul Incheon – Hong Kong 197 935
8 Bangkok-Hong Kong 197 313
9 Taipei-Tokyo Narita 197,175
10 Kuala Lumpur-Jakarta 195 988
11 Hong Kong-Singapore 187.128
12 Moscow Domodedovo-Simferopol 186239
13 Singapore-Bangkok 173 660
14 Hong Kong-Beijing 169,666
15 Seoul Gimpo-Tokyo Haneda 166,402
16 Palma-Dusseldorf 165,758
17 Seoul Incheon-Bangkok 163274
18 Osaka Kansai – Hong Kong 163 154
19 Hong Kong-Manila 162 647
20 Manila-Singapore 156522
Source: Routesonline
