While remaining the world's main aviation hub, Europe has hopelessly fallen behind the leaders in route intensity
As Expert Online notes, the most frequent flights are between Seoul and the South Korean island of Jeju, which constitutes the smallest Korean province – Jeju. Last year, the hour-long flight between the Korean capital and the main city of the island and province, lasting just over an hour, was made 64,991 times, according to OAG Aviation Worldwide Ltd. (the author of the ranking of the busiest air routes). This is equivalent to an average of 178 flights per day or 7 flights per hour. That means planes fly on this route approximately every 8 minutes.
Jeju is located in the very south of Korea. It is a major tourist center. Its popularity is due to its natural beauty and warm sea. Currently, on the island's beaches, besides Koreans, you can also meet thousands of tourists from Japan and China.
In second place in the ranking is the air route Sydney – Melbourne. On the route between Australia's two largest cities, planes flew 54,519 times last year. The drive along the highway takes 10 hours, while by air it's only an hour and a half. Sydney and Melbourne are the main business centers of the Green Continent, so besides tourists, sports fans, and those looking to go on a shopping spree, bankers and businessmen often use this route.
In third place is the route in India between the country's business capital Mumbai and Delhi, the administrative capital. Planes flew this route 47,462 times last year. The flight takes less than two hours. Thanks to the large number of passengers, airlines manage to keep ticket prices at the level of a train journey, which takes about 16 hours.
A significant time savings between planes and high-speed trains – several hours – is seen on another busy route: between Tokyo and Fukuoka, located on the northern coast of Kyushu Island. On this route, 42,835 flights were made in 2017.
Rounding out the top five busiest air routes is the flight between Latin America's two largest cities – Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Planes flew this route 39,325 times in 2017. By the way, tickets can be bought, if you're lucky, for less than a hundred dollars.
For comparison: the busiest North American route between Los Angeles and San Francisco lags behind the leader by almost half – 34,897 flights per year. There is also one African route in the top ten – between Johannesburg and Cape Town. It is in 9th place with 31,914 flights.
Asian cities lead the ranking and confirm Asia's dominance in the very rapidly growing tourism market. The top ten does not include a single air route from Europe. The busiest air route in the Old World – between Dublin and London – had only 14.5 thousand flights last year.