The busiest air routes in the world in February 2021

The busiest air routes in the world in February 2021

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(CNN) – For most people, international leisure travel is now a thing of the past.

Covid-19’s travel restrictions mean that the number of air passengers remains very low worldwide and that the routes that now qualify as the busiest in the world are not the ones you would expect.

Travel analyst OAG has analyzed the numbers for 2021 to find out who is flying, when and where.
Last month, Dubai-London Heathrow was the largest international route, with more than 190,000 seats scheduled for January. Dubai’s popularity as a quarantine winter sun destination for British travelers ended when the United Arab Emirates was added to the UK’s “red list” of countries hit by new travel bans.

With Dubai-London out of the top 10, the route leading the table is now Orlando-San Juan, with 135,244 seats scheduled for February.

The three-hour drive from Orlando International Airport in Florida to San Juan, the capital of the American territory of Puerto Rico, is classified by OAG as international, although US citizens do not need a passport to make the trip.

Both cities are popular tourist destinations, with Orlando being home to the Walt Disney World Resort and Puerto Rico being a long-standing Caribbean getaway preferred by Americans.

Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is the busiest in the United States.

Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is the busiest in the United States.

Rob Carr / Getty images

The second busiest international air route connects Dubai to Delhi (129,683 seats), while Cairo-Jeddah (128,665) is in third place.

The top 10 domestic routes globally were dominated by Asia, with only Jeddah-Riyadh from Saudi Arabia (504,840) and Cancún-Mexico City (374,972) from Mexico outside the region.

Domestic route number one was South Korea’s Jeju-International to Seoul-Gimpo (1,119,037). The only other route to breaking a million was the city of Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam (1,085,472).

There have been significant reductions in Chinese domestic capacity this month, OAG said, with the domestic route triangle between Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou falling from the top ten. Beijing-Shanghai capacity fell 60%, while Shanghai-Guangzhou fell 55%.

European blocking restrictions mean that European destinations appear only twice in the top 10 of international routes and not on domestic 10. The routes from Paris-Orly to Pointe-a-Pitre de Guadalupe (118,594) and Fort-de-France from Martinique (104,923) are number four and seven, respectively.

The four busiest domestic routes in the United States left Atlanta, with Fort Lauderdale (215,248) in first place, followed by Orlando, Miami and Tampa.

The world’s busiest international air routes

1. Orlando-San Juan (135,244)

2. Delhi-Dubai (129,683)

3. Cairo-Jeddah (128,665)

4. Paris Orly-Pointe-a-Pitre (118,594)

5. Tehran Imran Khomeini-Istanbul Ataturk (110,936)

6. New York JFK-Santiago (DO) (108,876)

7. Fort de France-Paris Orly (104,923)

8. Cairo-Riyadh (103,922)

9. Seoul Incheon-Tokyo Narita (100,676)

10. Cancún-Dallas Fort Worth (98,045)

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