These Are the 10 Busiest North American Air Routes

With load factors in the mid-80’s year-round, it sometimes seems like every flight is a popular flight. But some flights are more popular than others.

Routesonline combined schedule and passenger data from OAG and Sabre to compile a list of the busiest air routes in North and South America.

Here are the top 10:

1. Mexico City – Cancun
2. Los Angeles – New York
3. Mexico City – Monterrey
4. New York – Chicago
5. San Francisco – Los Angeles
6. Guadalajara – Mexico City
7. Los Angeles – Seattle
8. San Francisco – New York
9. New York – Atlanta
10. Honolulu – Kahului

Surprisingly perhaps, three of the 10 busiest air routes in North America turned out to be in Mexico. The very busiest, with 3,682,028 passengers during the 12-month period through October 2017, was the 805-mile flight between Mexico City and Cancun. Average fare: $72.22.

Second on the list is a bit more predictable: the Los Angeles to New York route, with 2,873,316 passengers for the year, at an average fare of $337.66. That’s the most expensive of the top-10 flights, and also the longest flight, at around 2,474 miles.

The 10th-busiest route is also the shortest: Honolulu to Kahului, at just 105 miles, with an average fare of $65.76.

Reader Reality Check

Any surprises?

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After 20 years working in the travel industry, and 15 years writing about it, Tim Winship knows a thing or two about travel. Follow him on Twitter @twinship.