The South African domestic flight between Cape Town and Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport is the busiest route in Africa, according to a new study carried out by Routes, which organises the aviation network development conferences and events.

The report revealed that more than 4.7 million travellers flew the 1,292km between the two airports during the last calendar year.

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During that period, more than 34,000 flights were operated between the two destinations.

In its study, Routes evaluated the top 100 aviation routes in Africa by total capacity last year, as per OAG Schedules Analyser, and then arranged them using passenger data supplied by Sabre Airline Solutions.

“With the Single African Air Transport Market set to further liberalise and unify the African skies, it is no doubt an exciting time for the continent’s aviation industry.”

The second busiest route was between O.R. Tambo International and Durban’s King Shaka International Airport route. A total of 2.87 million passengers flew between the two cities.

The third-busiest route connects Cairo, Egypt, with the Saudi Arabian port city of Jeddah, while Nigeria’s capital Abuja and its largest city Lagos route ranked fourth. Both these routes served 1.7 million and 1.3 million travellers respectively.

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Completing the top five is the Cape Town to Lanseria International Airport route, which is located to the north west of Johannesburg, with 1.2 million passengers.

Routes brand director Steven Small said: “With the Single African Air Transport Market set to further liberalise and unify the African skies, it is no doubt an exciting time for the continent’s aviation industry.

“Routes Africa will bring together senior decision makers from Africa’s airlines, airports and destinations to plan new services. They will also discuss increasing the frequency and capacity of the existing routes that are popular with passengers.”

Other busiest routes include Durban King Shaka (DUR) – Cape Town (CPT), Johannesburg O.r. Tambo (JNB) – Port Elizabeth (PLZ), Johannesburg O.r. Tambo (JNB) – Dubai International (DXB), Cairo International (CAI) – Riyadh King Khalid (RUH) and Cairo International (CAI) – Kuwait (KWI).