After almost two years into the pandemic the world’s busiest airline routes look different. This is the most up-to-date and comprehensive list of the 10 busiest airline routes of August 2021.
Flights to and from Crimea’s Simferopol International Airport continue to lead the world’s busiest international routes. However, whether or not this should be considered an international route is still debatable.
Imposing some of the strictest lockdowns in the world has taken Asia off the list of international routes it used to dominate.
Conversely, countries that started to ease travel restrictions by the end of July received an immediate positive response from passengers. That’s the case of Russian, U.K., European, African, and Middle East routes.
Route – Airport Country – Capacity
- SIP-SVO Simferopol – Moscow Sheremetyevo 338K
- DME-SIP Moscow Domodedovo – Simferopol 304K
- AYT-SVO Antalya – Moscow Sheremetyevo 224K
- CAI-JED Cairo – Jeddah 212K
- MCO-SJU Orlando – San Juan 188K
- AYT-VKO Antalya – Moscow Vnukovo 163K
- ORY-PTP Paris Orly – Pointe-a-Pitre 155K
- CAI-DXB Cairo – Dubai 147K
- CAI-RUH Cairo – Riyadh 141K
- JFK-LHR New York – London Heathrow 138K
The latest one on the list remains a noteworthy case considering London started an international travel corridor to the United States on August 2, but the latter has refused to reciprocate as of mid-September.
Close-up on European International Routes
As being both Asian and European, Russia tops the 5 first routes in the Old Continent. The rest of the top ten is divided mostly among Spain, and Greece
Route – Airport Country – Capacity
- SIP-SVO Simferopol Moscow Sheremetyevo 338K
- DME-SIP Moscow Domodedovo Simferopol 304K
- AYT-SVO Antalya Moscow Sheremetyevo 224K
- AYT-VKO Antalya Moscow Vnukovo 163K
- LED-SIP St. Petersburg Simferopol 135K
- DUS-PMI Dusseldorf Palma de Mallorca 125K
- BCN-ORY Barcelona Paris Orly 122K
- FRA-PMI Frankfurt Palma de Mallorca 121K
- AMS-BCN Amsterdam Barcelona 120K
- ATH-LCA Athens Larnaca 117K
Close-up on North American International Routes
At the time of writing this article, the United States international borders continue to be closed to 39 countries including the 27 countries that comprise the European Union.
That explains why the U.S. busiest international routes are limited to its closest neighboring countries.
Given that Puerto Rico is an American overseas territory, it is surprising that the route Orlando – San Juan (Puerto Rico) has been ranked as the busiest U.S. international route.
Route – Airport Country – Capacity
- MCO-SJU Orlando San Juan 94K
- JFK-LHR New York London Heathrow 69K
- IAH-MEX Houston Mexico City 65K
- CUN-DFW Cancun Dallas/Fort Worth 59K
- JFK-STI New York Santiago (DO) 55K
- JFK-SJU New York San Juan 53K
- MIA-PTY Miami Panama City 53K
- EWR-SJU Newark San Juan 52K
- LAX-SJD Los Angeles San Jose Cabo 51K
- LAX-MEX Los Angeles Mexico City 51K
Regarding the limited Asian routes currently operating, Hong Kong – Taipei has topped the list with only 99K passengers followed by Bangkok – Hong Kong with 94K and Manila – Singapore with 88K.
As for Latin American international routes, the top three are Orlando – San Juan with 94K passengers, Cancun – Panama City with 79K, and Paris Orly – Pointe-a-Pitre (Guadeloupe) with a similar number.