Busiest route

[MUFC_fan]

Probably lots of different routes dependant on different factors but, on passenger numbers, which is the world's busiest route, either domestic or international between CITIES.

I would guess one of these three:

Buenos Aires - Rio
London - Dublin
Madrid - Barcelona

But surely it has to be Tokyo - Osaka? They have heavies and NA/JL fly stupid amounts of times daily?

[johnnychips]

Madrid-Barcelona reduced owing to opening of AVE high-speed rail line last year.

[Capetonian]

I believe it's RIO - SAO (Santos Dumont to Congonhas if I recall).

[davidjohnson6]

I know wikipedia has its faults and sometimes contains a load of rubbish, but as a starting point (even though the data is not that current) it might be helpful to have a look at:

World's busiest passenger air routes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_busiest_passenger_air_routes)

[h&s]

there is a link to OAG data on wikipedia, figures from 2007, PAX nber, and top 5 are:
Madrid Barcelona (but 2007 is before the high speed train started so not sure for 2009)
Rio Sao Paulo
Jeju (3rd citiy in south Korea) Seoul
Sydney Melbourne
Cape town Jo'burg

[840]

Just a caution on the wikipedia data.

It's related to travel between airport pairs and not cities (as requested by the OP). So for cities such as London, Paris and New York, which have multiple large airports, you're not going to see the full size of their pairings.

[The SSK]

I'm surprised not to see Dallas-Houston in any of the lists (I didn't miss it, did I?)

It certainly seems to take up more space in the hard-copy OAG than any other route.

[southender]

Oh for the days when it used to be Southend - Ostend!

Cheers

Southender

[Expressflight]

That's right, I seem to remember a figure of up to 60 (not sure if that was 60 movements or rotations) per DAY on the SEN-OST route during high summer in the mid 1960s.

[nigel.hayes007]

I was a regular on the Southend to Ostend route around 1964-65 at least once a month,the sad reality though is i cannot renember a thing about flying in those beautiful wayfarers as i was only 2.
I think this torment is why i still wet the bed!:E

[Ernest Lanc's]

I would stop wetting the bed. You are missing nothing with Ostend these days. used to be called the Blackpool of Belgium/Europe before Benidorm got that mantle, if my memory serves me well that far back.

[racedo]

Wasn't even aware a Southend - Ostend service had ever operated, nice to learn something new.

[Ernest Lanc's]

racedo

Southend continued to expand after the war, and the 1950s proved to be the town’s heyday as a holiday resort.[...] At the airport Air Charter Ltd started the Channel Air Bridge service to Calais; concrete runways were laid down, and there were regular services to [[Calais, Ostend, Rotterdam, Guernsey and Paris]]. The Carvair began flights from Southend to Geneva, Basle and Strasbourg in the early 1960s.

LINK:A Brief History of Southend (http://www.southendmuseums.co.uk/history/soshist/soshistory3.htm)

[PAXboy]

The JNB~CPT route is indeed a busy one. There are five carriers on it and the JNB departure board for Tuesday 10th Nov shows 49 departures. These range from MD80s, through 737-300/400/800 and SAA often run much large a/c, certaily 747s (in the past) when they have a big sporting event.

At morning peak, SA have a CPT rotation every 25 minutes. It is easy to turn up at either end and just shop the counters to see who has the best fare and how many minutes you are going to have to wait. Doubtless someone has calculated the seats for an average day.

[Expressflight]

Ernest Lanc's

It wasn't the 'attractions' of Ostend itself that generated that number of flights, it was the popularity of the so-called 'coach air' holidays from UK to European destinations. Companies such as Wallace Arnold would coach pax down to SEN for the hop across to OST where they would board another coach for their onward journey.
In the late 60s Channel Airways used OST as a fuel stop for the 1-11 for the more southern Med destinations ex SEN. Channel also used two Mk21 Bristol Freighters on that route in a 55 seat pax configuration I recall.
In addition there was also the Bristol Freighter/Carvair fly drive traffic of course at that period.

[WHBM]

Traditionally for city pairs Los Angeles to San Francisco was the busiest, although I don't have the figures to hand. With four major airports around LA and three in the San Francisco area, all are linked to all. Even thirty years ago this supported two significant carriers (PSA and Air Cal) who did little else, along with the majors, nowadays it absorbs a significant proportion of Southwest's fleet, along with others.

In Japan Tokyo to Sapporo was always the busiest route, much less competition from surface modes than the other Japanese pairs.

[nospeedrestriction9]

It must be SYD-MEL, Virgin Blue, Jetstar and Tiger all operate this route. There must be around 45 frequencies a day between MEL Tullamarine and Avalon from SYD

[Ernest Lanc's]

It wasn't the 'attractions' of Ostend itself that generated that number of flights, it was the popularity of the so-called 'coach air' holidays from UK to European destinations.

I agree with that. I was just remembering that when I was young(er) Ostend was featured in the travel brochures with pics illustrating it's wide Blackpool like beach. That of course is now history with pax going further South. However Ostend has IMO changed also and has become I believe much more up market than the boozy tourist days.

[Charlie Roy]

However Ostend has IMO changed also and has become I believe much more up market than the boozy tourist days.

I know Ostend and it's long sandy beaches very well. Most tourists nowadays are confined to the summer months and school holidays and are mainly (and in order):

Belgian
German
Dutch
French
British
LuxembourgianThe airport has a huge runway which is nearly exclusively used for cargo aircraft, and a couple of charters to the Canaries and other hot spots. Ostend is a great place for a holiday, lots of attractions for the kids etc, and despite its proximity to Bruges, aswell as having Gent in its catchment area, I don't see many potential routes for its airport. London, Barcelona, Nice, Milan, Rome maybe...

[james170969]

It's a pity that Ostend Airport isn't used a bit more. I flew into Ostend from Stansted a few years ago with Ryanair but unfortunately the route wasn't well used. I travel to Ostend at least twice a year from Prestwick via Charleroi. The journey from Charleroi can be a bit tiring. I can't see any airline flying from the UK to Ostend, at least not for the forseeable future.

[wawkrk]

I still have some ticket stubs for Southend to Ostend. The front cover shows a Channel Airways Golden Sunjet which is a Trident. The flight was actually on a Viscount. The airport was very busy in those days with Carvairs etc, a lot of flights for sure. Ostend was a great place to have a good time. And, yobs had not been invented then.

[Porrohman]

840 said;

Just a caution on the wikipedia data.

It's related to travel between airport pairs and not cities (as requested by the OP). So for cities such as London, Paris and New York, which have multiple large airports, you're not going to see the full size of their pairings.

By way of example, according to Wikipedia, EDI-LHR is 20th for pax numbers in EU and Norway, but if you include flights to all London airports from EDI (STN, LTN, LGW, LHR and LCY) then this city pair (i.e. Edinburgh and London) is probably higher up the rankings.

The latest official statistics I can find (published 22 December 2008) show that 3,416,600 pax travelled by air between EDI and the five London airports during 2007.
Source; http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/12/22091243/116

Detail;

EDI-LHR 1,436,600
EDI-LGW 748,300
EDI-LCY 353,900
EDI-LTN 429,100
EDI-STN 448,700