OAG reveals the world's busiest airlines in 2024

Asia back on trackThis is borne out by the list of the world's busiest airlines in terms of number of seats. The continent appears 7 times in the top 10 international routes and even 9 times in the top 10 domestic routes. Strong recovery across AsiaThis is despite the mediocre performance of the major outbound tourist markets of China and Japan.

The top 10 international routes in terms of number of seats, Hong Kong-Taipei recorded 6.78 million seatsfollowed by Cairo-Jeddah (5.47 million) and Seoul Incheon-Tokyo Narita (5.41 million). Also in the top 10 are Dubai-Riyadh, Kuala Lumpur-Singapore and Bangkok-Hong Kong.

International lines worldwide (OAG)

Europe is represented by just one route. Unsurprisingly, this is the "air bridge". London Heathrow-New York JFK with its 4.01 million seats. London Heathrow is also the airport with the highest number of routes in Europe's top 10.. A total of 6 out of 10 routes. Madrid appears on two routes, to Rome-Fiumicino and to Lisbon. Paris-CDG, on the other hand, pales into insignificance with a single route, as does Frankfurt. Capacity on the Paris CDG-New York JFK generated 2.11 million seatsin 8th position in the OAG rankings.

Paris CDG also features in the top ten routes to North America. With 1.51 million seats, the Montréal-CDG route is in sixth place. The other way round, on Africa, three Paris lines in the top 10 Paris CDG-Alger (1.39 million seats), Paris Orly-La Réunion (1.08 million) and Paris Orly-Alger (1.02 million).

International routes in Europe (OAG)

France disappears from the ranking of Europe's most important domestic routes

On domestic routes worldwide, Korea and Japan share the top three places on the podium Jeju - Seoul-Gimpo recorded 14.18 million seats, Sapporo New Chitose - Tokyo-Haneda 11.93 million and Fukuoka-Tokyo Haneda 11.33 million. In fact, with the exception of Melbourne-Sydney, the biggest domestic airlines are all located on the Asian continent.

In Europe, Spain dominates the top 10 domestic routes with 5 connections. It should be noted that Barcelona-Madrid is still one of the routes with the highest number of seats (2.38 million), despite the competition from high-speed trains on this route. Italy and Norway share second place on the podium of the top 10 countries. Each country has two lines in the OAG rankings.

The latter confirms the decline in domestic air travel in FranceThere are no longer any domestic airlines in the top 10. Nonetheless, Paris-Nice represents just over two million seats a year. This figure is based on the number of flights recorded by the DGAC in 2023.

Domestic routes in Europe (OAG)