Ever wondered which airline routes bring in the most money? Would it be long haul flights that bring in the most cash, or perhaps frequent short hop flights? Well we’ve taken a look at the list of the top 10 highest revenue routes for the year 2017 – 2018 and it makes for very interesting reading.
You might be surprised to know that there is one route that nets the airline more than a billion dollars a year! This route is LHR – JFK operated by British Airways. From April ‘17 to May ‘18 this route alone accounted for 6% of the entire British Airways revenue! That’s certainly the most lucrative route in the world! Interestingly, five out the top ten biggest revenue earning routes fly either to or from London Heathrow.
This billion dollar route works out at $24,639 per hour, which is a pretty impressive hourly rate, but it’s not the highest. The airline that tops the charts for highest per hour revenue is Emirates. The LHR – DXB route brings the airline a whopping $25,308 per hour. This flight is placed at number 3 overall in the top ten revenue producing routes with a yearly total of $819,409,702. Sitting in between BA and Emirates at position 2 is Qantas Airways with the MEL – SYD route creating revenue of $854,692,402.
In fourth place is another London Heathrow route, this time from LHR to Singapore, operated by Singapore Airlines. This lucrative route brings in $709,730,107 annually. The first US based airline in the list is American Airlines with its LAX – JFK flight netting $13,801 per hour, a yearly total of $698,074,171. United Airlines’ SFO – EWR is also pretty profitable. This route is scheduled for 56,693 hours annually and creates a total yearly revenue of $687,674,312.
The remaining four places in the top 10 go to:
Cathay Pacific Airways HKG – LHR with an annual revenue of $631,855,868.
Qatar Airways LHR – DOH with an annual revenue of $552,658,316.
Air Canada YVR – YYZ with an annual revenue of $ 552,264,972.
and finally Singapore Airlines gets a second spot in the top 10 with the SYD-SIN route bringing in an annual revenue of $543,723,893.
It’s not surprising that these routes are often used by business travelers. If you travel via any of these routes this list makes for particularly interesting reading, and once you realize just how much money these routes bring in, you can rest assured that they won’t certainly be cutting back on these services!
Emily is an avid writer with a passion for the travel industry. She also loves learning and writing about nutrition and healthy living. Emily is based in the UK.
