The Asia-Pacific region continues to lead aviation recovery and demand, powering nine of the world’s top 10 busiest airline routes by seat capacity in 2025, including this short and popular Australian east coast hop.
OAG crunched its monthly global airline schedule data for 2025 to rank the world’s busiest airline routes by seat capacity.
The study showed nine of the 10 busiest airline routes in the world operate in the Asia-Pacific region, including the popular Sydney to Melbourne hop in sixth spot with almost nine million seats in 2025.
High-capacity routes mean more airline competition and sharper fares, reflected in the rise of low-cost carriers and ticket price decreases on some trunk routes.
Taking out the top global spot for busiest airline route is South Korea’s Jeju International to Seoul Gimpo with 14.4 million scheduled seats in 2025, equivalent to almost 39,000 daily seats on a short sector of just 243 nautical miles and operated by seven carriers.
The second and third-placed busiest routes are in Japan. Sapporo New Chitose to Tokyo Haneda had 12.1 million seats and Fukuoka to Tokyo Haneda had 11.5 million seats scheduled in 2025.
Vietnam’s largest domestic route between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City is the world’s fourth-busiest airline route with 11 million seats scheduled and six carriers operating in this competitive corridor in 2025.
Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah–Riyadh route took out fifth place with 9.8 million scheduled seats. It was also the fastest-growing route in the top 10, bumping Sydney – Melbourne to sixth spot, and the only route outside APAC to make the list.
Rounding out the world’s top 10 busiest airline routes are Tokyo Haneda – Okinawa Naha with just over eight million seats, Mumbai – Delhi (7.6 million seats), Beijing – Shanghai Hongqiao (7.4 million seats) and Shanghai Hongqiao – Shenzhen (7.1 million seats).
By region, Africa’s busiest airline route in 2025 is Cape Town – Johannesburg with 5.5 million scheduled seats, Europe’s busiest airline route is Barcelona – Palma (2.9 million seats), and the Jeddah–Riyadh route for the Middle East.
In North America, Vancouver – Toronto is the busiest airline route with 3.6 million scheduled seats and Colombia’s Bogota–Medellin route (6.2 million seats) topped the Latin America top 10 list.
The Hong Kong to Taipei route is the busiest cross-border or international airline route with 6.8 million scheduled seats with Cairo – Jeddah, a high-traffic Middle East trunk route, in second place with 5.8 million seats in 2025.
Overall, seven of the top 10 international airline routes in 2025 are in Asia, reflecting the region’s dominant role in global air travel.
The remaining three busiest airline routes cover the Middle East (Cairo–Jeddah and Dubai–Riyadh) and Europe–North America (New York–London).
The majority of the year-on-year capacity increases have been concentrated in Asia and the Middle East, demonstrating strong recovery momentum and demand across these regions.
Read the full list here.
KARRYON UNPACKS: The Sydney–Melbourne route’s global top-10 ranking underscores Australia’s aviation strength, giving travel advisors confidence that domestic frequency, competition and pricing will remain key levers for 2026 planning.
