Asia Pacific Dominates Ranking Of World's Busiest Airport Pairs
KUALA LUMPUR, July 16 (Bernama) -- Asia Pacific dominated the ranking of the world’s busiest airport pairs, with Jeju International Airport and Seoul’s Gimpo International Airport (CJU-GMP) remaining the most popular route globally, with 13.3 million passengers travelling between the two airports.
In the top 10, only one airport pair - Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport and Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport (JED-RUH) - was outside the Asia Pacific region.
All of the top 10 busiest airport pairs were domestic connections, according to the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) latest edition of the World Air Transport Statistics (WATS), which provided comprehensive statistical data through to 2025.
IATA said several Central Asian countries were among the world’s fastest-growing passenger markets.
"Kazakhstan recorded a 40 per cent year-on-year surge in 2025 to 18.1 million passengers while Uzbekistan welcomed 12.5 million passengers, up 16.9 per cent on the previous year. Outside of Central Asia, Vietnam also recorded strong growth, with 80.9 million passengers in 2025, up 14.8 per cent year-on-year," it added.
The United States remained the world’s biggest passenger market, with 890.1 million passengers (both arriving and departing) recorded in 2025. However, it recorded the slowest growth of the world’s top 10 markets, up just 1.6 per cent year-on-year compared to 2024.
IATA said China was the second-largest passenger market, with 776.1 million passengers in 2025, representing growth of 4.8 per cent over 2024.
Meanwhile, the number of international premium-class passengers - business and first class in 2025 - reached 109.7 million, up 4.5 per cent year-on-year. This accounted for 5.5 per cent of all international travellers.
Updated annually, WATS provides data related to demand, supply and operational performance. It also includes data collections on the global airline fleet, top routes, employment and financial performance (costs and revenues).
WATS incorporates data from the 1,315 airlines in the IATA Annual Statistics collection, including more than 250 international airlines providing specific data contributions to WATS.
-- BERNAMA