Summary
- US air travel peaks with 721.6M seats scheduled this summer, 623.8M domestic, 97.8M international, as per OAG data.
- Top US-European routes: New York-London and New York-Paris; New York-Toronto ranks third.
- Latin American cities and Caribbean destinations follow closely, with Orlando-San Juan and New York-San Juan among the busiest routes for US passengers.
This summer is expected to be one of the busiest for travelers in the United States, with air travel reaching its peak. According to aviation analytics company OAG, a total of 721,651,961 seats are scheduled for the season, with 623,853,291 designated for domestic travel and 97,798,670 for international flights.
All figures are for one-way travel.
European cities lead the way
According to OAG data, routes between the United States and key European cities are the most popular, with the top two routes being New York (JFK) to London (LHR) and New York to Paris (CDG). This summer, airlines will offer 1.8 million seats on flights between New York and London. The New York to Paris route follows with 961,000 seats available for the season.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
Many legacy carriers operate on these lucrative routes, including American Airlines, British Airways, Air France-KLM, Virgin Atlantic, and Delta Air Lines, among other carriers.
Another popular international route between the US and Europe is the fourth in the list of the busiest international routes for US passengers. The route is between Los Angeles (LAX) and London (LHR). As per OAG data, carrier will offer 734,000 seats.
The last in the list, in ninth place, is the route between New York and Rome (FCO). Airlines operating flights between these two cities will offer 597,000 seats. It is worth noting that this year will see a record 140,000 scheduled flights between North America and Europe, marking a 6% increase over last year’s record-breaking season.
In addition, the New York to Toronto (YYZ) route takes third place in the list, with a total of 880,171 scheduled seats between the two cities this summer season.
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Strong demand for Latin American cities
Not surprisingly, Latin American cities and Caribbean destinations closely follow, being one of the busiest international routes for US passengers.
Photo: Angel DiBilio | Shutterstock
Orlando (ORL) to San Juan (SJU), the capital of Puerto Rico, ranks fifth with 674,745 scheduled seats. Meanwhile, New York to San Juan is close behind in seventh place with 637,512 seats. Frontier Airlines, JetBlue, and Delta Air Lines are among the most popular airlines operating on this route.
Completing the list in tenth place is the New York to Santiago, Chile route, with a total of 523,706 seats this summer.
For domestic routes, the busiest for US travelers is between New York and Chicago, with 4 million seats available this summer season. Notably, New York appears in the top six domestic city pairs in the United States.
What are your thoughts about this? Do you have any travel plans for this summer? Let us know in the comments section below.