The world’s busiest air routes for February 2021

The world’s busiest air routes for February 2021

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

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

Travel analyst OAG has tweaked the 2021 numbers to find out who flies when and where.
Last month, Dubai-London Heathrow was the international route with the largest capacity, with more than 190,000 seats planned for January. Dubai’s popularity as a quarantine-free winter 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 on the leaderboard is now Orlando-San Juan, with 135,244 seats planned for February.

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

Both cities are popular tourist destinations, with Orlando home to Walt Disney World Resort and Puerto Rico a longtime Caribbean refuge for Americans.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport sees the most action in the United States.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport sees the most action in the United States.

Rob Carr / Getty Images

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

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

The first domestic route was South Korea’s Jeju International to Seoul Gimpo (1,119,037). The only other way to break a million was the Vietnamese Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City (1,085,472).

There has been a significant decline in Chinese local capacity this month, OAG says, with the triangle of domestic routes between Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou falling from the top 10. The capacity of Beijing and Shanghai decreased by 60% while Shanghai-Guangzhou decreased by 55%.

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

The four busiest inland routes in the US were all outside Atlanta, with Fort Lauderdale (215,248) in the best spot, followed by Orlando, Miami and Tampa.

The world’s busiest international air routes

1. Orlando-San Juan (135,244)

Delhi-Dubai (129,683)

Cairo Jeddah (128,665)

Paris Orly-Pointe-a-Pitre (118 594)

Tehran Imran Khomeini-Istanbul Ataturk (110,936)

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

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

Cairo Riyadh (103,922)

9. Seoul Incheon-Tokyo Narita (100 676)

10. Cancun-Dallas Fort Worth (98,045)

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