The Dublin-London route retained its position as Europe’s busiest city pair for the third consecutive year, according to IATA’s World Air Transport Statistics (WATS) report for 2024
The Dublin-London Heathrow route alone saw 2.35m seats, ranking as the second busiest international air route within Europe, according to OAG data. Dublin remained the top individual route destination for London Stansted.
The Dublin-London city pair witnessed an average of 91 daily flights throughout the year, operated by Ryanair (38 flights), Aer Lingus (26 flights), and British Airways (20 flights).
Dublin-London Heathrow was the busiest segment with 36 daily flights, followed by London Gatwick and London Stansted, each with 19 flights per day.
Other connections included Dublin to London City (9 daily flights), Luton (8 daily flights), and Biggin Hill (1 daily flight).
Ireland is the only country among the top 20 European countries in air travel predicted to see a decline in scheduled seat capacity in Q1 2025 compared to Q1 2024, partly due to the seat cap at Dublin Airport.
International premium travel grew globally by 11.8pc in 2024, according to IATA findings.
Travel to England, Scotland and Wales from Ireland involved 11.5m outbound visits in 2024, with most arriving by plane (90pc), and 10pc by sea. More than half, 51pc of direct flight seat capacity from Ireland to England is allocated to London airports.
The WATS report confirmed the US as the largest aviation market with 876m passengers in 2024, reflecting a 5.2pc year-on-year growth.
The most popular international route was Jeju-Seoul (CJU-GMP) with 13.2m passengers in 2024.
Boeing 737 aircraft were among the most used, completing 10m flights in 2024.
Asia Pacific led in premium travel growth percentages with 22.8pc year-on-year growth, contributing 21m premium passengers.
IATA shared, “The US remains the world’s biggest aviation market with 876m passengers in 2024. Asia Pacific dominated the ranking for the world’s busiest airport pairs. Boeing 737 aircraft flew 10m flights with 2.4 trillion Available Seat Kilometers in 2024.”
Top 10 busiest international flight routes in 2024
- Hong Kong (HKG) – Taipei (TPE): This route claimed the top spot with 6.8m seats, despite remaining 15pc below 2019 levels. Its capacity increased by 48pc compared to 2023.
- Cairo (CAI) – Jeddah (JED): This route saw significant growth, ranking second with 5.5m seats. It showed a 14pc increase from 2023 and an impressive 62pc increase compared to 2019.
- Seoul Incheon (ICN) – Tokyo Narita (NRT): Holding the third position with 5.4m seats, this route also experienced notable growth, with capacity increasing by 30pc from 2023 and 68pc compared to 2019.
- Kuala Lumpur (KUL) – Singapore Changi (SIN): Dropping to fourth place after being the busiest route in 2023, it still saw a 10pc increase in capacity from 2023, though it remains slightly below 2019 levels.
- Seoul Incheon (ICN) – Osaka Kansai (KIX): This route, another connection between South Korea and Japan, ranked fifth with 4.98m seats and a 45pc increase in capacity from 2019.
- Dubai (DXB) – Riyadh (RUH): This route within the Middle East secured the sixth position with 4.31m seats.
- Bangkok (BKK) – Hong Kong (HKG): Moving up to seventh place, this route had 4.2m seats available. Capacity increased by 29pc from 2023 but remained 13pc behind 2019 levels.
- Jakarta (CGK) – Singapore Changi (SIN): This route ranked eighth with 4.07m seats, although it showed a 26pc decline compared to 2019.
- Bangkok (BKK) – Singapore Changi (SIN): This route placed ninth with 4.03m seats and a modest 5pc growth from 2019.
- New York JFK (JFK) – London Heathrow (LHR): The only route on the list connecting North America and Europe, it came in tenth with 4.01m seats and a 5pc increase over 2019 levels.
