Global travel industry data platform OAG has released its analysis on the busiest flight routes of 2024.
The busiest air routes are defined by OAG as those with the largest volume of scheduled airline seats in 2024. OAG’s data measures flights in both directions on each route and is sourced by the company in the first week of each month.
OAG’s full data presentation can be read here.
Busiest U.S. Routes
Atlanta to Orlando was number one in OAG’s top 10 busiest domestic airline routes list, according to a Tuesday news release by the company. This route included 3.5 million seats, a similar capacity to last year and in 2019.
Honolulu to Kahului, last year’s busiest domestic route, ranked second this year with 3.4 million seats. Las Vegas to Los Angeles followed in third with just 14,941 seats less. Coming in fourth and fifth were Denver to Phoenix and Los Angeles to San Francisco.
New York LaGuardia to Chicago O’Hare moved into the top 10 this year at number 7. These airports saw the highest increase in capacity year on year growing by 17% in 2024 compared to 2023.
“Although American Airlines and United maintained similar route capacity from New York La Guardia to Chicago, the addition of 700 flights from Spirit Airlines helped position it as one of the busiest U.S. routes this year, pointing to an evolving competitive landscape,” said John Grant, chief analyst at OAG, in the release. “Additionally, travelers are flying more with TSA recording its busiest travel day in history over the Thanksgiving holiday. Airlines in the U.S. who strategically use real-time aviation insights will best adapt to these market changes and win over traveler expectations.”
Busiest Routes Outside the U.S.
After ranking third in 2023, Hong Kong to Taipei reclaimed its number one spot as the busiest global international airline route in the world with 6.8 million seats. Kuala Lumpur to Singapore Changi dropped from first last year to fourth on the list in 2024.
In second place is Cairo to Jeddah with 5.5 million seats – a 14% increase in capacity from 2023 and 62% increase from 2019. Seoul Incheon to Tokyo Narita took third place with just 58,818 less seats than second place, though capacity on this route increased by a whopping 30% compared to 2023 and is 68% higher than 2019.
Bangkok to Hong Kong has moved up into the top 10 busiest international routes in 2024 in seventh place with 4.2 million seats.
