The air route between Cairo (CAI) and Jeddah (JED) ranked second in the world among the busiest air routes, with a total of 5.8 million scheduled seats in 2025, growth of 5% compared with 2024 and a significant rise of 71% above 2019 levels.
The report explained that the route's strong performance reflects the multiple reasons for travel between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, including family visits, tourism and business travel, along with the growing role played by low-cost airlines, which account for 43% of seat capacity on the route and contributed 81% of the increase in seats in 2025, according to data from OAG, the global firm specializing in aviation and seat capacity analytics.
This strong growth reflects the depth of relations between the two countries, as people travel for many reasons, including work, leisure and visiting friends and relatives. A total of 9 airlines operated flights on this route in 2025, highlighting its popularity, and the average one-way ticket price was 145 US dollars, down 12% from the previous year.
In the same context, the route between Dubai (DXB) and Riyadh (RUH) ranked seventh in the world among the busiest international routes in 2025, with a total of 4.5 million scheduled seats, recording year-on-year growth of 4% and a 42% increase compared with 2019, reflecting continued demand for travel between the two cities and the route's role in supporting air connectivity within the region.
The report noted that Asia accounted for 7 of the world's 10 busiest international routes in 2025, led by Hong Kong-Taipei, Kuala Lumpur-Singapore and Seoul-Tokyo, while the Middle East stood out with two major routes on the list, Cairo-Jeddah and Dubai-Riyadh, underlining the region's growing role in cross-border travel.
The data in the report are based on scheduled seat capacity across all airlines operating on these routes in 2025, which measures the number of seats available on scheduled flights and does not represent the actual number of passengers.
To view the post on the OAG website, click here.
