We have been talking on the blog about the busiest routes in America, starting with South America and then moving on to North America. In South America, it’s São Paulo Congonhas – Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont, while in North America, the top 1 spot was a close contest between two services, Los Angeles – San Francisco and Honolulu – Kahului.

In this post, we cross the Atlantic Ocean to discuss the busiest route in Europe, which, in previous years, used to be Madrid Barajas – Barcelona El Prat in Spain, but over the time this domestic connection has been losing passenger demand, currently having 100 flights per week. Madrid is no longer Barcelona’s main destination, and vice versa.

The top 3

According to our database, considering weekly flights, Gran Canaria – Tenerife North, Barcelona – Palma de Mallorca, and Oslo – Trondheim are the busiest routes in Europe, with the first two being domestic services in Spain and the latter a domestic connection in Norway.

Meanwhile, in the international sector, Madrid – Lisbon is the leading route in Europe in terms of weekly frequencies, surpassing 130, distributed between Air Europa (UX/AEA), easyJet (U2/EZY), Iberia (IB/IBE), Ryanair (FR/RYR), and TAP Air Portugal (TP/TAP). London Heathrow has several routes within Europe with more than 100 weekly flights, including Dublin, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt.

Gran Canaria – Tenerife North

At the time of publication, Gran Canaria – Tenerife North, an inter-island route in Spain, leads the list, being the only one in Europe to surpass 200 regular weekly flights. Binter Canarias and Canaryfly, two airlines based in Gran Canaria, are the sole operators, mainly using ATR 72-600 aircraft.

Binter

One of Spain’s main carriers, Binter Canarias, has its operations focused on the Spanish islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Since 2023, with the introduction of several Embraer E195-E2 aircraft to its fleet, the airline began flying to mainland Spain from the Canary Islands, having regular routes to A Coruña, Almería, Asturias, Badajoz, Córdoba, Granada, Jerez, Murcia, Palma de Mallorca, Pamplona, Santander, San Sebastián, Valencia, Valladolid, Vigo, and Zaragoza.

Its fleet consists of 42 aircraft, including 26 ATR 72-600s, which are on average six years old, and 16 Embraer E195-E2s, averaging three years. Binter is the leading airline in the Canary Islands.

Canaryfly

Canaryfly is the other company operating inter-island flights within the Canary Islands, with a fleet of five ATR 72-500 aircraft. The airline was founded in 2008, beginning regular operations on October 30th of that year with Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner aircraft, which were later replaced by ATR 42 and Dash 8 aircraft. The ATR 72 aircraft joined the fleet as of 2019.

In accordance with our database, the Gran Canaria – Tenerife North route has around 200 weekly flights, mainly operated by ATR 72 aircraft, as well as Embraer E195-E2 aircraft, the latter belonging to Binter.

Flights between Gran Canaria and Tenerife, whether Tenerife North or Tenerife South, cover a distance of approximately 120 kilometers, climbing rapidly to around 10,000 feet and landing 20 minutes after departure. Taking both airports into account, there are over 250 flights per week connecting the two islands.

Gran Canaria – Lanzarote and Gran Canaria – Fuerteventura are the other main routes in the Canary Islands, with around 150 and 125 flights a week, respectively.

Palma de Mallorca – Barcelona

Palma de Mallorca has recently undergone significant development as a beach destination, which has resulted in a major increase in flights within Europe, as well as intercontinental services. This consolidated position has attracted many new international airlines, including Air Canada, Etihad Airways, and United Airlines.

One of its main current routes is Barcelona, with approximately 175 weekly flights between three different carriers. Madrid also has significant connectivity with Son Sant Joan International Airport in Mallorca, having over 130 flights per week.

In addition to Barcelona and Madrid, the main Mallorca routes, Ibiza, another Spanish island located 145 kilometers from PMI, has about 120 weekly flights, performed by Iberia and Swift Air.

Air Europa, Ryanair, and Vueling serve between Palma de Mallorca and Barcelona El Prat Airport, with Vueling being the main operator, conducting 75 flights a week.

Düsseldorf completes the list of routes to/from Mallorca with more than 100 weekly frequencies, being around 115, provided through Condor, Eurowings, and TUI.

Oslo – Trondheim

To close the top three busiest routes in Europe in terms of weekly flights, we must fly to Scandinavia, more precisely to Norway, with its main domestic route: Oslo Gardermoen – Trondheim Værnes.

Norwegian and Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) are almost the only operators between the two cities, reaching up to 160 flights per week in total. Widerøe, a Norwegian airline, serves two weekly flights on this route, but exceeds 15 weekly frequencies to Oslo Torp Sanderfjord Airport, located south of the city, from Trondheim.

In terms of aircraft, Norwegian only operates Boeing 737-800s, while SAS runs a variety of it, including Airbus A319s, Airbus A320-200s, Airbus A320neos, and Embraer 195s, configured for 150, 168, 180, and 122 seats, respectively.

Madrid – Lisbon

At publication time, the Madrid Barajas – Lisbon Humberto Delgado route is the busiest international service in Europe, having around 130 flights a week. Both capitals are major hubs, with Madrid being the base for Iberia and Air Europa, the country’s leading airlines, and Lisbon for TAP Air Portugal, the country’s flag carrier.

Madrid – Lisbon is the only international route in Europe with more than 125 weekly flights. Other busiest routes on the European continent, with between 110 and 125 flights per week, are Oslo (OSL/ENGM) – Copenhagen (CPH/EKCH), London Heathrow (LHR/EGLL) – Dublin (DUB/EIDW), London Heathrow (LHR/EGLL) – Amsterdam (AMS/EHAM), London Heathrow (LHR/EGLL) – Frankfurt (FRA/EDDF), and Manchester (MAN/EGCC) – Dublin (DUB/EIDW), with 124, 116, 115, 113, and 111, respectively.

To resume, the top busiest routes in the three markets already discussed:

1. São Paulo Congonhas – Río de Janeiro Santos Dumont: 375 weekly flights
2. Honolulu – Kahului: 235 weekly flights (currently)
3. Los Angeles – San Francisco: 220 weekly flights (currently)
4. Gran Canaria – Tenerife North: 200 weekly flights
5. Barcelona – Palma de Mallorca: 175 weekly flights
6. Oslo – Trondheim: 160 weekly flights
7. Madrid – Lisbon: 130 weekly flights

Cover photo: © Jez-UK – JetPhotos (Arrecife/Lanzarote, Spain)