SINGAPORE: The Kuala Lumpur-Singapore route is the world’s busiest international flight route with 30,537 flights recorded between March 2017 and February 2018, according to aviation consultancy OAG.
While the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore route topped the rankings, Hong Kong was the busiest Asian airport on the list, ranking six times in the top 20. Singapore’s Changi Airport was featured four times.
On the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore route, the most punctual carrier was Scoot and the least punctual, Malaysia Airlines, said OAG.
Of the flights between the two cities, 57 per cent were operated by legacy carriers and 43 per cent by low-cost carriers (LCCs).
Jakarta-Singapore was ranked the third busiest in the OAG list, with 27,304 flights between the cities.
Hong Kong-Singapore was ranked 10th busiest and Bangkok-Singapore ranked 11th, with 15,029 and 14,859 flights respectively.
Fourteen intra-Asian routes were ranked in the top 20; eight in North Asia, four Southeast Asia and two between North and Southeast Asia.
The highest on-time performance among Asian routes was Kansai-Taipei with 83 per cent, followed by Bangkok-Singapore (80 per cent) and Incheon-Kansai (78 per cent).
Other major hubs like New York and London also made it into the list, with the route from New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport to London’s Heathrow Airport ranked 16th.
“Given the robust expansion of air passenger travel across Asia Pacific and the fierce competition between carriers in the region, it is unsurprising that 14 of the world’s busiest 20 routes, including eight of the top 10 routes, are between Asian city pairs,” said Mayur Patel, regional sales director JAPAC for OAG.
