HONG KONG, 14 September 2018: Hong Kong – Taiwan Taoyuan is the busiest international route according to the latest research published by Routes this week.
An organiser of aviation network development conferences and events, worldwide, Routes’ latest study showed the busiest routes, both international and domestic, were both in east Asia.
With more than 13.4 million people travelling Korea’s short-haul domestic service, a 450 km journey from Seoul’s Gimpo Airport to the island of Jeju off the coast of the Korean Peninsula, the route was once again declared the busiest in the world.
The route has an average of 180 scheduled flights per day – that’s one every eight minutes – transporting mainly leisure travellers from South Korea’s dense capital city to the island, famed for its white sandy beach resorts and volcanic landscape.
Statistics show that 13,460,305 passengers flew between Seoul and Jeju in 2017, an increase of 9.4% on the previous year when the route was also ranked as the busiest in the world. It carried a staggering 4,369,364 more people than the second busiest, Melbourne – Sydney Kingsford Smith route.
Although the US remains the world’s largest aviation market, the analysis by Routes found that air services in the Asia-Pacific region dominate the top 100 busiest routes by passenger numbers, accounting for more than 70% of the total.
Hong Kong – Taiwan Taoyuan is the busiest international route and features as the 8th most popular overall, with 6,719,029 passengers flying the 802 km in 2017. Hong Kong, the home hub for Cathay Pacific, features in six of the top 10 international routes.
The study also found that the Thai domestic route, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi – Chiang Mai, is the fastest-growing route in the top 100. Two-way passenger numbers grew by 36% year-on-year to almost 2.4 million.
The research has been released as 3,000 aviation professionals prepare to gather at World Routes 2018, 15-18 September in Guangzhou, China. The event is a global meeting place for airlines, airports and tourism organisations to discuss new market opportunities and the evolution of existing services.
Routes brand director, Steven Small said: “This research backs up forecasts that the Asia-Pacific region will be the biggest driver of passenger demand over the next 20 years. Such staggering aviation growth means it is the perfect time for World Routes to return to China.
“The event will bring together senior decision makers from across the world to plan new air services and discuss increasing the frequency and capacity of the existing routes that are popular with passengers. The negotiations in taking place in Guangzhou could pave the way to the busiest routes of the future.”
The busiest routes in the world were calculated by using OAG Schedules Analyser to find the top 500 routes by overall seat capacity in 2017. The routes were then ranked by passenger numbers, using data provided by Sabre Market Intelligence.
The top 10 busiest domestic passenger routes in the world:
Passengers (2017)
1 Jeju – Seoul Gimpo (CJU-GMP) 13460306
2 Melbourne – Sydney Kingsford Smith (MEL-SYD) 9090941
3 Sapporo – Tokyo Haneda (CTS-HND) 8726502
4 Fukuoka – Tokyo Haneda (FUK-HND) 7864000
5 Mumbai – Delhi (BOM-DEL) 7129943
6 Beijing Capital – Shanghai Hongqiao (PEK-SHA) 6833684
7 Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh City (HAN-SGN) 6769823
8 Hong Kong – Taiwan Taoyuan (HKG-TPE) 6719030
9 Jakarta – Juanda Surabaya (CGK-SUB) 5271304
10 Tokyo Haneda – Okinawa (HND-OKA) 5269481
The top 10 busiest scheduled international routes in the world:
Passengers (2017)
1 Hong Kong – Taiwan Taoyuan (HKG-TPE) 6719030
2 Jakarta – Singapore Changi (CGK-SIN) 4810602
3 Hong Kong – Shanghai Pudong (HKG-PVG) 4162347
4 Kuala Lumpur – Singapore Changi (KUL-SIN) 4108824
5 Bangkok Suvarnabhumi – Hong Kong (BKK-HKG) 3438628
6 Dubai – London Heathrow (DXB-LHR) 3210121
7 Hong Kong – Seoul Incheon (HKG-ICN) 3198132
8 Hong Kong – Singapore Changi (HKG-SIN) 3147384
9 New York JFK – London Heathrow (JFK-LHR) 2972817
10 Hong Kong – Beijing Capital (HKG-PEK) 2962707
The top 10 fastest-growing scheduled air routes in the top 100:
Year-on-year growth
1 Bangkok Suvarnabhumi – Chiang Mai (BKK-CNX) 36.0%
2 Seoul Incheon – Kansai International (ICN-KIX) 30.3%
3 Jakarta – Kuala Lumpur (CGK-KUL) 29.4%
4 Delhi – Pune (DEL-PNQ) 20.6%
5 Chengdu – Shenzhen Bao’an (CTU-SZX) 16.8%
6 Hong Kong – Shanghai Pudong (HKG-PVG) 15.5%
7 Bangkok Suvarnabhumi – Phuket (BKK-HKT) 14.9%
8 Jeddah – Riyadh King Kalid (JED-RUH) 13.9%
9 Jakarta – Kualanamu (CGK-KNO) 13.9%
10 Kolkata – Delhi (CCU-DEL) 13.4%
