Summary
- London’s Heathrow Airport is LAX’s busiest international route with 330 departures and almost 200,000 monthly seats.
- Seoul’s Incheon Airport is LAX’s second-busiest route with five daily flights and over 125,000 monthly seats.
- Guadalajara, Taipei, and Vancouver are also among LAX’s highest-capacity routes.
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is one of the country’s busiest airports with expansive international connections. From LAX, passengers can reach destinations as far-flung as Australia, Singapore and Dubai, or connect domestically across the country.
Have you ever wondered about LAX’s busiest international routes? Data from aviation analytics company Cirium helps us break them down, as measured by seat capacity for the month of September.
London, UK
Almost all London traffic comes from Heathrow
The long-haul transatlantic journey between London Heathrow Airport (LHR) ranks as LAX’s busiest route by a considerable distance. There will be a total of 330 departures, or 11 daily flights, and over 97,000 seats available each way.
Photo: Jarek Kilian | Shutterstock
The route is served by four airlines:
- American Airlines – three daily flights with Boeing 777
- British Airways – three daily flights with Boeing 777, Airbus A380
- United Airlines – two daily flights with Boeing 787 Dreamliner
- Virgin Atlantic – three daily flights with Airbus A350, Boeing 787 Dreamliner
The city of London also has a little extra capacity thanks to Norse Atlantic Airways service from London Gatwick Airport (LGW), which adds another 20 flights and 6,760 seats per month. Delta Air Lines previously flew Los Angeles-London but halted its service this summer, as its passengers can instead rely on the airline’s joint venture with Virgin Atlantic.
Seoul, Korea
High-capacity A380s from Korea’s two main carriers
The transpacific connection with Korean capital Seoul’s main international airport, Incheon International Airport (ICN), is LAX’s second-busiest route with five daily flights and over 63,000 seats each way per month. Despite several other routes beating Incheon in terms of frequencies, this A380-heavy route has a much higher seating capacity per flight.
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- Asiana Airlines – two daily flights with Airbus A380
- Korean Air – two daily flights with Airbus A380
- Air Premia – daily flight with Boeing 787 Dreamliner
Guadalajara, Mexico
Up to 10 daily frequencies on peak days
The second shortest of LAX’s top five busiest routes is the three-and-a-half-hour hop to Guadalajara (GDL), which will be served by four airlines operating a total of 283 flights. Volaris dominates with over 55% market share and up to five daily roundtrips.
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- Aeromexico – daily flight with Boeing 737 MAX
- Alaska Airlines – up to two daily flights with Boeing 737, 737 MAX
- Viva Aerobus – two daily flights with Airbus A320
- Volaris – up to five daily flights with Airbus A320, A320neo and A321neo
Taipei, Taiwan
Served exclusively by three Taiwanese carriers
The Taiwanese trio of China Airlines, EVA Air and Starlux operate up to six daily flights to and from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE).
Photo: Abdul N Quraishi – Abs | Shutterstock
- China Airlines – up to two daily flights with Boeing 777
- EVA Air – three daily flights with Boeing 777
- Starlux Airlines – daily flight with Airbus A350
Vancouver, Canada
Five airlines operate up to 11 daily flights
Vancouver sees the second-highest overall number of monthly flights at 318, but the use of lower-density aircraft places it in fifth for overall seat capacity at 51,700 monthly seats each way. Clocking in at just over 1,000 miles, it is the shortest route on this list with a block time of under three hours.
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- American Airlines (and Skywest) – one daily flight with Airbus A319, Embraer E175
- Air Canada – five daily flights with Boeing 737 MAX
- Flair Airlines – five weekly flights with Boeing 737 MAX
- United Airlines – double-daily with Boeing 737, 737 MAX
- WestJet – double-daily with Boeing 737 MAX