Asia hosts 10 of the World’s Busiest Domestic Air Travel Routes this Month

According to the OAG Aviation Worldwide Ltd, 10 of the world’s busiest domestic routes this month are operating in Asia.

The pandemic has had a huge impact on air travel all across the globe. As travel restriction and the second wave dry out demand for passenger air travel, many airline carriers like the British Airways and Qantas have started storing away their planes until things go back to normal.

While international flights have suffered the burnt of this falling demand due to border controls and quarantine requirements, recovery has been observed in domestic travel.

It has been reported that the domestic travel route between South Korea's capital Seoul and the island Jeju has been the busiest so far, with 1.3 million seats scheduled in November for this almost an hour long flight. Pre-pandemic, the Jeju-Seoul route flew about 48,000 on average a day.

Rest of the busiest domestic routes are in China, Japan, and Vietnaam. The Beijing-Shanghai’s Hongqiao Airport booked 768,184 seats this month, which is about the same as the top four U.S. routes combined.

The recent domestic air travel data is in sharp contrast with pre-pandemic trends with South Korea and China leading the charts. Pre-pandemic, the flight route between Sydney and Melbourne was regularly ranked one of busiest in the world. However, with air travel restrictions in Australia, this flight route has disappeared from the top 10 busiest routes.