14 out of the 20 most frequent air connections are in Asia
Asian cities have proved their domination of air travel, a new report published by OAG reveals.
The digital flight information provider compared all flight routes in the world and measured the frequency at which they operate, as well as the number of transported passengers, average number of seats per flight, and the largest airlines operating on the route between March 2017 and the end of February 2018.
According to the final figures, out of the 20 busiest air connections in the world 14 are located in Asia while “two operate within Europe, another two operate within North America, and one between North America and Europe,” the report says.
“There is also one route which operates between two destinations in the Middle East.”
With more than four million passengers on 30,537 flights – around 80 per day – the connection between Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, and the city state of Singapore has been named the busiest in the world. The cities are both highly populated economic powerhouses, but suffer from a lack of appropriate terrestrial connection, which explains the preference of air travel options.
The line between Hong Kong and Taipei is close behind, with 28,887 flights operated during the year. However, in terms of passengers numbers, they beat the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore route by two, as more than 8 million travellers took a flight between the two cities.
Other highly frequent connections are between Jakarta and Singapore (27,304 flights), Hong Kong and Shanghai (21,888 flights), or Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur (19,849 flights).
The busiest #route in the world is from @MY_Airports in Kuala Lumpur to @ChangiAirport in Singapore. Discover more of the world’s busiest routes from our latest report. https://t.co/eTumKweq4m #airtravel pic.twitter.com/J5IBner2x5
— OAG (@OAG_Aviation) May 4, 2018
The first non-Asian route in the top 20 is between New York LaGuardia and Toronto. 16,956 flights carrying 1,620,223 passengers makes the connection the eighth most busiest.
The leading route in the Middle East is between Kuwait and Dubai, ranking ninth in total.
The most frequent connection in Europe is between Dublin and London Heathrow. 1,887,170 passengers carried on 14,390 flights between the cities puts it at the 14th busiest.
The world’s 20 busiest flight routes:
1 Kuala Lumpur–Singapore – 30,537 flights
2 Hong Kong–Taipei – 28,887 flights
3 Jakarta–Singapore – 27,304 flights
4 Hong Kong–Shanghai Pudong – 21,888 flights
5 Jakarta–Kuala Lumpur – 19,849 flights
6 Seoul Incheon–Osaka – 17,488 flights
7 Hong Kong–Seoul Incheon – 17,075 flights
8 New York LaGuardia–Toronto – 16,956 flights
9 Dubai–Kuwait – 15,332 flights
10 Hong Kong–Singapore – 15,029 flights
11 Bangkok Suvarnabhumi–Singapore – 14,859 flights
12 Bangkok Suvarnabhumi–Hong Kong – 14,832 flights
13 Hong Kong–Beijing – 14,543 flights
14 Dublin–London Heathrow – 14,390 flights
15 Osaka–Taipei – 14,186 flights
16 New York John F. Kennedy–London Heathrow – 13,888 flights
17 Osaka–Shanghai Pudong – 13,576 flights
18 Seoul Incheon–Tokyo Narita –13,517 flights
19 Amsterdam–London Heathrow – 13,170 flights
20 Chicago–Toronto – 13,100 flights
