Nine of the world’s top ten domestic busiest airline routes in 2025 are operating in the Asia–Pacific region, underlining the continued dominance of short-haul, high-frequency flying across Asia despite the expansion of high-speed rail networks and lingering capacity gaps from the pandemic.
Topping the global rankings, according to OAG, is the ultra-busy domestic link between Jeju International Airport and Gimpo International Airport, which has emerged as the world’s busiest airline route this year. The 243-nautical-mile sector has 14.4 million scheduled seats in 2025, equivalent to almost 39,000 seats per day, operated by seven competing airlines.
Capacity on the Jeju–Seoul Gimpo route is 1 per cent higher than in 2024 but remains 17 per cent below pre-pandemic levels. Intense competition has driven average one-way airfares down 11 per cent year-on-year to just US$44.
Japan dominates second and third place, highlighting the enduring appeal of air travel even in a country with one of the world’s most extensive high-speed rail systems. The route between New Chitose Airport and Haneda Airport ranks second globally, with 12.1 million seats scheduled in 2025. Capacity is up 1 per cent year-on-year and just 3 per cent below 2019 levels, signalling a near-complete recovery.
Third place is held by Fukuoka Airport to Tokyo Haneda, with 11.5 million seats. That route has surpassed its pre-pandemic capacity by 1 per cent, making it one of the few major domestic markets worldwide to exceed 2019 volumes.
Vietnam’s busiest domestic corridor, between Noi Bai International Airport and Tan Son Nhat International Airport, ranks fourth overall. The route has 11.0 million seats scheduled in 2025, up 4 per cent year-on-year and 8 per cent above 2019 levels. Six airlines compete on the sector, with average one-way fares falling 11 per cent to US$67.
The only route in the global top ten outside Asia–Pacific is Saudi Arabia’s flagship domestic service between King Abdulaziz International Airport and King Khalid International Airport. Ranked fifth, the route has grown 13 per cent year-on-year to 9.8 million seats and now sits 22 per cent above 2019 capacity. Unlike most Asian routes, fares have risen sharply, with average economy prices up 27 per cent to US$95 one-way.
Australia’s Sydney-Melbourne route drops from fifth to sixth with just 8.95 million seats, compared with 9.2 million in 2024 and 9.34 in 2023. In 2019 the Sydney-Melbourne route was the world’s second busiest.
China accounts for several of the remaining top ten routes, although capacity trends are mixed. The country’s busiest domestic route remains Beijing Capital International Airport to Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, with 7.5 million seats in 2025. While it retains its top domestic ranking, capacity has fallen 3 per cent year-on-year and remains 8 per cent below 2019 levels.
Shanghai Hongqiao to Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport ranks second domestically with 7.1 million seats, up 4 per cent year-on-year and 14 per cent above pre-pandemic volumes. Guangzhou to Shanghai Hongqiao follows with 6.4 million seats, although capacity has declined 9 per cent compared with 2024, bringing it broadly back in line with 2019 levels.
Several north–south Chinese trunk routes show stable year-on-year performance but remain below pre-pandemic capacity, including Beijing to Shenzhen and Chengdu to Beijing. The fastest-growing Chinese route in the top ten is Chengdu to Shenzhen, which has recorded a 12 per cent increase compared with 2024, although it still sits 5 per cent below 2019.
In contrast, domestic markets in the United States remain significantly smaller by comparison. The busiest US route in 2025 is John F. Kennedy International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport, with 3.4 million seats, up 9 per cent year-on-year but still 20 per cent below pre-pandemic levels.
Other major US routes, including New York LaGuardia to Chicago O’Hare and Los Angeles to San Francisco, have seen modest growth in 2025 but continue to lag well behind 2019 capacity, highlighting the scale of Asia–Pacific’s dominance in global short-haul aviation.
