Dubai International Airport features at number five on the top ten busiest international air routes list of 2022.
The Middle East hub, which handled more than 60 million passengers last year, accounts for half of the world’s busiest international air routes according to aviation consultancy OAG.
Topping the billing for the UAE airport is its Dubai to Riyadh route, with 3.19 million scheduled seats and 40 flights per day. It is the second busiest international route in the world, behind Cairo to Jeddah that had 3.23 million seats scheduled in the past 12 months.
London Heathrow to Dubai, a route that has just had Emirates Airline's first retrofitted A380 superjumbo deployed on it, is the fourth busiest route in the world. It ranks behind the London airport's services to New York JFK, which lists in third place in terms of scheduled seats.
Dubai to Jeddah also features in the top 10, with 2.42 million seats per year. Destinations in the Middle East climbed up the rankings in 2022, taking the lead from other routes across Asia, according to OAG.
India also experienced an increase in route capacity with two routes ranking in the top 10, both of which operate between Dubai. These include Mumbai to Dubai, a route with 1.97 million seats, and Delhi to Dubai which squeezes into 10th position with 1.89 million scheduled seats.
Other routes making it into the ranking include Kuala Lumpur to Singapore, which ranks fifth after being the world's busiest route back in 2019; Orlando to San Juan as the seventh busiest route; and Cairo to Riyadh listed in ninth.
Top 10 international air routes 2022
1. Cairo — Jeddah: 3,234,683 seats
2. Dubai — Riyadh: 3,191,090 seats
3. New York JFK — London Heathrow: 2,848,044 seats
4. Dubai — London Heathrow: 2,697,593 seats
5. Kuala Lumpur — Singapore: 2,443,176 seats
6. Dubai — Jeddah: 2,425,930 seats
7. Orlando — San Juan: 2,099,234 seats
8. Mumbai — Dubai: 1,977,537 seats
9. Cairo — Riyadh: 1,913,991 seats
10. Delhi — Dubai: 1,898,749 seats
OAG defines the world's busiest flight routes as those with “the largest volume of scheduled airline seats” with data recorded for flights in both directions on each route. The data took into account scheduled seats between October 2021 and September 2022.
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Our legal columnist
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Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
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- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
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