Data released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) shows that Africa’s busiest airline route is in South Africa.
Image: Pexels
Africa’s Busiest Airline Route
In South Africa, Cape Town International Airport-Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport (CPT-JNB) was Africa’s busiest airport pair in 2025.
Last year the route saw over 3.4 million passengers flying between the two cities.
Various airlines operate full-service and low-cost flights on this route. This includes Airlink, Cemair, FlySafair, Lift Airline and South African Airways.
Airline Performance Data
The International Air Transport Association released the latest edition of the World Air Transport Statistics (WATS), providing comprehensive statistical data through to 2025.
Updated annually, WATS provides data related to demand, supply and operational performance. WATS 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.
Busiest Airport Pairs
Asia Pacific dominated the ranking of the world’s busiest airport pairs, with Jeju International Airport-Seoul’s Gimpo International Airport (CJU-GMP) remaining the most popular route globally, with 13.3 million passengers traveling between the two airports.
In the top 10, only one airport pair—Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport-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.
An overview of the regions showed:
- Cape Town International Airport-Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport (CPT-JNB) was Africa’s busiest airport pair in 2025, with 3.4 million passengers.
- Bogotá’s El Dorado International Airport-Medellín’s José María Córdova International Airport (BOG-MDE) was the busiest airport pair in Latin America with 3.5 million passengers.
- Barcelona’s Josep Tarradellas-El Prat Airport-Palma de Mallorca (BCN-PMI) remained the busiest airport pair in Europe with 2.1 million passengers. Stockholm Arlanda Airport-Malmö Airport (ARN-MMX) was the airport pair with the fastest growth in Europe, with passenger numbers surging 85% to 271,031.
- New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport-Los Angeles International Airport (JFK-LAX) was the busiest domestic airport pair in North America with 2.2 million passengers, and JFK-London Heathrow (JFK-LHR) was the busiest international airport pair from North America with 2.1 million passengers.
Top Passenger Markets by Country
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% year-on-year compared to 2024. China was the second-biggest passenger market, with 776.1 million passengers in 2025, a growth of 4.8% compared to 2024.
Several Central Asian countries were among the world’s fastest-growing passenger markets. Kazakhstan recorded a 40.0% year-on-year surge in 2025 to 18.1 million passengers while Uzbekistan welcomed 12.5 million passengers, up 16.9% on the previous year.
Outside of Central Asia, Vietnam also recorded strong growth, with 80.9 million passengers in 2025, up 14.8% year-on-year.
Most Used Aircraft Types
Over the past six years, newer, more efficient widebody aircraft have taken to the skies.
The Boeing 787 (+40.8%) and Airbus A350 (+117.4%) recorded significantly more flights in 2025 than in 2019.
By contrast, the Airbus A380 showed a considerable decline in usage, operating 24.4% fewer flights in 2025 than in 2019.
Narrowbody aircraft from Boeing and Airbus maintained their position as the most used aircraft in 2025.
Boeing 737 aircraft (including all variants) operated 10.8 million flights in 2025, up 12.0% from 2024. This was followed by the Airbus A320 with 8.7 million flights and the Airbus A321 with 4.2 million flights.
For more on WATS see here.
Also Read: IATA unveils Global Baggage Roadmap to modernize systems
