Asia Pacific dominated biggest routes by seat capacity in 2024, but Middle East made its mark

An annual report from OAG on the world's busiest airport to airport routes as measured by seat capacity reveals no great changes compared to 2023, with the Asia Pacific region continuing to dominate the statistics.

However, the Middle East does figure to a greater degree than it did previously, both domestically and internationally, and especially in respect of Saudi Arabia, which continues to show signs that it could become a regional air transport powerhouse.

Only one route involving both Europe and the Americas figures in the international table, and those very busy domestic and international intra-European routes of a decade ago have clearly been impacted by rail travel.

It was domestic travel that kept the US airline business running during the COVID-19 pandemic, but while that travel segment is back up to full speed now (and, unlike in Asia and Europe, faces no tangible threat from rail), it is still the case that no US domestic route figures in the global Top 10.

Not only that, the second biggest US route by capacity in 2024 (and number 1 in 2023) was between two Hawaiian islands!