According to a survey published by aviation data firm OAG, flights from Delhi and Mumbai to Dubai are among the top 10 busiest air routes in the world.
Delhi-Dubai was ranked tenth with 1.9 million seats flown by airlines, while the Mumbai-Dubai route took eighth place with 1.97 million seats flown by airlines in a calendar year. Passengers are transported from India to West Asia on the three-hour trip from Delhi to Dubai.
On a global level, during pre-pandemic times, the flight routes in the Asia-Pacific region dominated as the world’s busiest. The route connecting Taiwan with Hong Kong was the busiest, with nearly 8 million seats a year.
However, ever since the pandemic waned, the Middle East flight routes have been dominating the list. As of now Cairo International, Egypt, to King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah in Saudi Arabia is the busiest with more than 3.2 million passengers being flown.
Currently, nine carriers are operating on this route, making it the most competitive route in the world says OAG.
The second busiest route was also from the Middle East. It connects Dubai International airport in UAE with King Khalid International Airport, Riyadh with 40 flights a day.
Prior to pandemic
The busiest international route before the pandemic hit the world was between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore Changi with 82 flights being operated daily. Although now it has come down to 33.
Demand has unexpectedly spiked due to travel restrictions being relaxed. Owing to confinement to the house for two years, the idea of “revenge travel” has emerged to make up for lost vacation time and accrued savings by avid travellers and tourists. Normalcy seems to have been restored owing to historic vaccination administering 12 billion doses across 184 countries.
Domestic Flights
Asian markets are still the busiest in terms of domestic traffic, though. Three of the top ten busiest domestic routes are located in Japan, where domestic flights are operating at full capacity. With roughly 224 flights per day, South Korean capital of Seoul, and Jeju, a popular tourist destination, would be the busiest domestic route.
With 1508 flights per year, Delhi-Mumbai is the busiest domestic airline route in India with a total of 1478 flights each year on the same route. With a total of 1,63,453 passengers flown in May 2022, another study from OAG Aviation also noted that the Delhi-Srinagar route had been the busiest.
(With inputs from various media organisations.)
