View From Above: North America’s Busiest Routes

July 28, 2025

Two U.S. services are contenders for the busiest route title—one on the West Coast, the other in Hawaii.

On the West Coast, the route mirrors São Paulo-Rio de Janeiro’s pattern, with flight numbers swelling when you include neighboring airports. Meanwhile, in Hawaii, the contender is simpler—just a straightforward island-to-island hop, with all flights counted in the weekly tally.

However, someone has to come out on top and according to FlightRadar24 that is:

Los Angeles – San Francisco

Per the FlightRadar24 database, LAX-SFO is North America’s busiest route with about 250 weekly flights. Multiple U.S. carriers operate this point-to-point service, including Alaska, American, Delta, Frontier, Southwest and United, with many also serving other nearby airports.

Airplane geeks also will appreciate knowing the types of aircraft crisscrossing the skies above these mega-metropolises—Airbus A319/A320/A321neo, Boeing 737 series/MAX, CRJ-701, and Embraer 170/175 are among the aircraft brands.

FlightRader24’s analysis also included Avelo‘s wine country connection from Burbank to Santa Rosa, Breeze‘s innovative San Bernardino-San Francisco route, and Spirit‘s service linking John Wayne and Oakland airports.

Honolulu – Kahului

Second to LAX-SFO, Honolulu to Kahului is one of North America’s busiest air corridors. Hawaiian Airlines rules this island-hopping route, whisking travelers between Oahu and Maui over 150 times weekly in their nimble 128-seat Boeing 717-200s.

Not to be outdone, Southwest has joined the party, though they’ve brought bigger planes to the table—Boeing 737 MAX 8s that pack in 47 more passengers per flight.

In non-passenger business, Aloha Air Cargo flies 30 weekly Honolulu-Kahului routes using 737-300F/400F aircraft. In addition, UPS operates Ontario-Kahului-Honolulu-Lihue-San Bernardino 3-4 times weekly.

Airports: What’s the Frequency?

LAX takes the title, handling a staggering 800+ departures daily—from domestic hops to international journeys, passenger jets to cargo planes. According to FlightRader24, July 18th was the record-setter so far, with more than 890 departures.

San Francisco International Airport has about 600 daily departures; while Honolulu, Hawaii’s busiest airport, has more than 270 departures per day, sometimes surpassing 300 flights, as it did several days this summer so far.