Kuala Lumpur-Singapore Slides To No. 4 On World’s Busiest Flight Routes List, As Hong Kong-Taipei Seizes No. 1 Spot

The reason why the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore Changi route has slid to No. 4 in 2024 from No. 1 in 2023 is not that it is any less busy now than in the previous 12 months. Indeed, this route has been 10 per cent busier in 2024 than it was in 2023.

The reason for the ranking drop for Singapore Changi International Airport is that the Hong Kong-Taipei route has grown by a whopping 48 per cent from 2023 to 2024, outstripping other routes.

The Hong Kong-Taipei flight route has unseated the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore Changi route as the ‘Busiest International Airline Route’ this year, as per the Global Airline Schedules Data compiled by OAG, the Britain-headquartered global data provider.

Kuala Lumpur-Singapore Changi was at No. 1 in 2023, but has dropped to No. 4 in 2024, as post-COVID recovery continues across the Asia-Pacific region, bringing benefits for global aviation.

In its recent report, OAG has released the following data:

● No. 1: The Busiest International Airline Route in 2024 is Hong Kong (HKG) to Taipei (TPE) with 6.8 million seats. In 2023, it ranked as the third busiest route, although it held the top spot in 2019.

The capacity on this route has grown by 48 per cent compared to the previous year, yet it remains 15 per cent lower than the levels seen in 2019.

All routes across the Asia-Pacific region have seen significant growth in 2024, as the region continues the post-pandemic recovery, with the HKG-TPE route showing the most substantial increase.

● No. 2: Taking second place in the Top 10 Busiest International Airline Routes is Cairo (CAI) to Jeddah (JED) with 5.5 million seats. Airline capacity on this route is 14 per cent above 2023 levels and 62 per cent higher than 2019.

● No. 3: In third place is Seoul Incheon (ICN) to Tokyo Narita (NRT) with 5.4 million seats (only 58,818 (-1.1 per cent) seats behind second place). Capacity on this route has increased by 30 per cent compared to 2023 levels and is 68 per cent higher than 2019.

● No. 4: Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Singapore Changi (SIN) was the Busiest International Airline Route in 2023; it is in fourth place in 2024 with 5.4 million seats, just 28,293 (0.5 per cent) behind third place. This route is still above 2023 levels by 10 per cent and is just below 2019 levels by 3 per cent.

Other Top 10 entries

OAG says that Bangkok (BKK) to Hong Kong (HKG) has moved up into the Top 10 Busiest International Routes in 2024 in seventh place with 4.2 million seats, a capacity increase of 29 per cent compared to 2023 but still 13 per cent behind 2019.

The majority of routes in the Top 10 Busiest International Routes for 2024 are in Asia, seven routes in total. From other regions, one route is from Africa (Cairo to Jeddah), one from Europe and North America (New York JFK to London Heathrow) and two operate within the Middle East (Cairo to Jeddah and Dubai to Riyadh).

The OAG data sources are: airlines, airports, and alliances. The data analytics span figures available from January to December. The figures given above also allow one to see how much a particular flight route has recovered from the pandemic, as data sets are given for both 2019 and 2024.

The reason why the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore Changi route has slid to No. 4 in 2024 from No. 1 in 2023 is not that it is any less busy now than in the previous 12 months. Indeed, this route has been 10 per cent busier in 2024 than it was in 2023.

The reason for the ranking drop for Singapore Changi International Airport is that the Hong Kong-Taipei route has grown by a whopping 48 per cent from 2023 to 2024, outstripping other routes.

(The article is published under a mutual content partnership arrangement between The Free Press Journal and Connected To India)