A flight linking Singapore and the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur has become the busiest international route in the world, research shows.
Planes made 30,537 trips between the two airports in the year to February 2018, OAG Aviation said.
The route overtook Hong Kong-Taipei in a list dominated by Asian destinations.
Flying between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur takes about an hour, and there are plans to build a high-speed rail link between the two.
The figures mean an average of 84 flights per day plied the route.
The route is operated by a host of budget carriers such as Scoot, Jetstar, Air Asia and Malindo Air as well as the two country’s flagship carriers Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines.
Singapore-Kuala Lumpur route
A flying visit through the numbers
30,537 flights between the two airports in the year to February 2018
- 4 million people on those flights
- 65 mins typical flight time
- 6 hours approximate travel time on public transport (there is no direct train)
- 296.7km distance between the two airports
OAG’s report found that the busiest international route outside of Asia was between New York’s LaGuardia airport and Toronto Pearson – a route which saw about 16,956 flights over the period.
In terms of passenger numbers, the flight between Hong Kong and the Taiwanese capital remains the busiest with 6.5 million passengers on the route. The second busiest was Singapore-Jakarta (4.7 million people) and Singapore-Kuala Lumpur (4 million).
However, even the busiest international routes cannot compete with the most popular domestic air journeys.
The world’s busiest flight path is between the South Korean capital, Seoul, and the country’s popular holiday island of Jeju. About 65,000 planes flew that route in 2017 according to OAG – the equivalent of almost 180 journeys per day.
