FrequentFlyKid From United States of America, joined Nov 2001, 1201 posts, RR: 1 Posted (9 years 8 months 3 weeks 21 hours ago) and read 6864 times:
I've never been a poster of these types of questions, but I have always wondered what's the worlds most lucrative route, for lack of a better way to word it. I guess I mean what's consistently the best route in terms of yields for the airlines, both US and others. Any ideas? Better question, is there anyway to know?
MAH4546 From Sweden, joined Jan 2001, 31122 posts, RR: 74 Reply 3, posted (9 years 8 months 3 weeks 21 hours ago) and read 6639 times:
There are of course the obvious, like London Heathrow-New York City/JFK and Singapore-Sydney. These are undeniably huge moneymakers, but don't forget some of those less known gold mines. Miami to Port-Au-Prince, Haiti comes to mind.
BN747 From United States of America, joined Mar 2002, 5292 posts, RR: 52 Reply 4, posted (9 years 8 months 3 weeks 19 hours ago) and read 6527 times:
I'd say JFK-LHR has to be one...but without a doubt..HKG-TPE-HKG! CI and CX this is their cash cow (before SARS and after). Just look at the number of jumbos between the city pair! It's gotta be about 12-13 each. Then add in the EVA, THAI, SQ,EG and everyone else they let into the mix.
Also Tokyo Haneda HND-ITM (Osaka-Itami) roundtrip.
USA....JFK-LAX, EWR/LGA/JFK-MIA
Europe I'd say LHR-CDG..but I'm not sure it's 'lucrative'..heavily travelled? yes...lucrative? not so sure.
"Home of the Brave, made by the Slaves..Land of the Free, if you look like me.." T. Jefferson
B6FA4ever From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 813 posts, RR: 12 Reply 8, posted (9 years 8 months 3 weeks 19 hours ago) and read 6408 times:
here's some routes that come to mind.
NYC (EWR & JFK) - London
or what about LAX - NRT? (u have all the asian carriers conecting to japan and continueing onto the west coast of the US)
another one that comes to mind is LAX-LAS (just cause of the frequencies from Southwest, America West, and the other airlines.
Expressjetphx From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 9, posted (9 years 8 months 3 weeks 19 hours ago) and read 6390 times:
One of the US most lucrative routes would have to be PHX-Los Angeles. It is served by 24 flights daily on America West, plus Southwest, United, and Aloha. PHX-Hawai'i routes are fairly saturated, but don't come close to LAX. There is PHX-OGG service on ATA, PHX-SNA-OGG on Aloha, and PHX-HNL service on America West/Hawaiian.
Ted747 From Australia, joined Jul 2003, 195 posts, RR: 2 Reply 10, posted (9 years 8 months 3 weeks 19 hours ago) and read 6368 times:
I once read that the SYD - MEL was one of the busiest and lucrative routes in the world - this of course may have changed. QF has a CityFlyer service with departures every 30 mins.
MAH4546 From Sweden, joined Jan 2001, 31122 posts, RR: 74 Reply 11, posted (9 years 8 months 3 weeks 19 hours ago) and read 6368 times:
One of the US most lucrative routes would have to be PHX-Los Angeles. It is served by 24 flights daily on America West, plus Southwest, United, and Aloha
It makes money for Southwest and America West, but yields suck. It's not a big moneymaker, most flights out of Phoenix aren't. Unless, of course, you are Southwest or America West, who don't need very high yield to turn a profit. It sucks for airlines like American and United, but it rocks for Phoenix residents.
Bobrayner From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2003, 2227 posts, RR: 7 Reply 14, posted (9 years 8 months 3 weeks 19 hours ago) and read 6297 times:
For a given value of "lucrative"....
Fairly strong competition, either between airlines or with surface transport. From London to Paris, the train is just as quick door-to-door, and it's certainly not expensive.
KQ777 From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 125 posts, RR: 0 Reply 16, posted (9 years 8 months 3 weeks 18 hours ago) and read 6292 times:
London to New York has to be by far the world's most lucrative route, since the front of the cabin is consistently packed, but the distance is not nearly so great as other high-premium yield routes like JFK-NRT, so I bet the profit margin is much higher. I know I read somewhere that this is the most lucrative route for American Airlines, and I assume the same would be true for BA, UA, CO, VS, and others.
Flyingdutchboy From Netherlands, joined May 2000, 96 posts, RR: 0 Reply 19, posted (9 years 8 months 3 weeks 17 hours ago) and read 6122 times:
JFK-LHR, HND-ITM
For South East Asia it is definately KUL-CGK v v sector with 240 flights p/w. (A330/B734 both MH and GA) versus SIN-KUL v v sector 142 flights p/w (B772/B734/A330 both SQ and MH). I think!
TxAgKuwait From United States of America, joined Aug 1999, 1803 posts, RR: 48 Reply 20, posted (9 years 8 months 3 weeks 17 hours ago) and read 6054 times:
Actually, the passenger totals between the LA area and Phoenix, while impressive, pale in comparison to those of a whole lot of other routes....LA to the Bay Area, Dallas to Houston, NYC to DC and Boston come to mind.
But since you brought up this market, let's see what the DOT shows for passenger counts and average fares:
These #s are from the last quarter posted by the DOT for O&D traffic:
La Carlota From United States of America, joined Jun 2001, 358 posts, RR: 0 Reply 21, posted (9 years 8 months 3 weeks 17 hours ago) and read 6028 times:
Don't forget MAD-BCN-MAD.
There's a bunch of daily flights with Iberia (a shuttle service, actually), Spanair and Air Europa. Everyone wants to take a bite...
JAL777 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 24, posted (9 years 8 months 3 weeks 17 hours ago) and read 5963 times:
I always thoughts routes to third world countries were the most profitable.
25 Hoons90: what about ICN-NRT/HND ? 8 airlines fly that route (Asiana, Korean, JAL, Northwest, United, MIAT Mongolian, ANA, Skymark, and all flights are by wideb
26 Pe@rson: In terms of domestic routes, BOM-DEL and DEL-BOM are right up there.
27 9V-SVE: SIN-KUL is NOT a money-making route. SQ and MH only run them to feed their other flights and because of political issues. LAX-NRT? HKG-NRT? SIN-LHR?
28 Airblue: JAL777 is right, routes to third world countries are the most profitable. In my mind I have all the AF african routes and all the major European to La
29 OOPJV: I agree with JAL777 and Airblue; the SN Brussels' flights to Africa are very profitable (as were the late SN's flights to Africa)...
30 Keesje: There is a big differnce between high traffic flows/ lots of frequencies and profitable... Margin between European hubs can be very low ... Most profi
31 Cdgdtw: HKG-TPE-HKG I remember was called "The Golden Route" because of its money making ability. Maybe this is still true?
32 Pzurita1: Agree with Kesjee, there is a huge difference between high frequency or high loads, with most lucrative routes... A route might be very lucrative send
33 BoingGoingGone: In terms of revenue/profit per pax: City Pair: LAX-SAN # of Airlines: 2 Flights: 90 (45 each way) Daily Seats: 2,700 (approx) Average Load Factor: 76%
34 Greg: I'll go out on a limb and say the BOS-LGA-DCA corridor for yield. I don't know of many that can consistently beat that with the same frequency. I thin
35 N6376m: BoingGoingGone - Where do you get this data?
37 BOSugaDL: BOS-LGA....US shuttle DL shuttle and american eagle all over $200 for the short hop....although i don't know about yields, must be pretty good if each
38 Jcs17: Most lucrative guys, not most flights!!! LHR-CDG is hardly lucrative with a return ticket rarely costing more than 150Eur. The most lucrative routes a
39 Aussieboggie: most lucrative, hmmmmmm i think it is MH KUL-EZE v.v. Being the only asian carrier to serve South American cities to date? and the air fare structure
40 Donder10: LHR-LOS was(And mostly still is)BA's most profitable sub-sonic flight.Not only are yields immense but England has more Nigerians than any other EU cou
41 Leviticus: What about this one... Khatmandu (Nepal) - Lhasa (Tibet/China) Very short flight, little bit more that an hour but a return flight costs $650
42 BoingGoingGone: N63.... I pay for it. Its' about $1500 a year.
43 BN747: City Pair: LAX-SAN # of Airlines: 2 Flights: 90 (45 each way) Daily Seats: 2,700 (approx) Average Load Factor: 76% Average Fare: $89 Seat Cost: $19 Da
44 Lucifer: You're all wrong (probably) - the world's most lucrative route can't be something that is as competitive as LHR-JFK, but a restrictive route due to ro
45 Lucifer: Donder 10 - additionally Lagos is above LA in profitability - that I am fairly confident of
46 Jetjack74: NRT-HNL-NRT. All major airlines, US and Japanese carriers serve it. Including Japanese charter airlines.
47 BoingGoingGone: BN747... No way to tell. International Carriers dont' provide data. I can give you direct hourly costs on those aircraft. Indirect over there is unkno
48 BN747: Thanks BGG. Impressive...if that's the cost then they are making MAJOR cash, ching ching or bling bling hand over fist because they of the quick journ
49 BoingGoingGone: That's direct costs. Total cost is any where from 35% to 55% more of the actual hourly cost. I ran some number for BA a few months ago, this is actual
50 Jetdeltamsy: there are over 20 flights daily from the new york city area to the u.k. most of those flights are into london. there are lots of niche markets that ca
51 TxAgKuwait: To the individual claiming LAX-SAN is the most lucrative route, based on purchased data: I don't know who you are purchasing it from or how much it co
52 Behramjee: What this discussion is on a route which nets a HIGH YIELD and a lot premium + eco class traffic not just a frequently travelled short haul trip like
53 JGPH1A: I wonder how LHR-JNB vv does ? BA and SA both have 2 x 744 per day in each direction, plus a VS 340 per day, all leaving within the space of 2 or 3 ho
54 BoingGoingGone: TX... Where did you get 78 pax a day? They have that many before 7:00 AM. SAN-LAX has a 76% load factor, not pax/day. It's a little over 2,000 pax a d
55 Donder10: London/Paris-Luanada is another one.Economy fares are around $1500 rtn for a starter!
56 Airbazar: I believe you guys are forgetting one very important detail: cargo! For instance, I read somewhere not too long ago that SQ's most profitable route wa
57 Ti717: It about Yields then we must look at flight where the Ratio of Cheap seat to the high dollar seats. I think the route might be a high yield but low tr
58 Timz: TxAgKuwait forgot that the 78 pax/day LAX-SAN were O&D pax only. It's not clear what the original questioner was asking. Could be 1. What route produc
59 727LOVER: Somebody mentioned JFK/LGA/EWR to MIA. Isn't that kinda low-yield?
60 TxAgKuwait: I did not "forget" that the 78 pax per day are O&D pax only. However, i can tell you for sure and for certain that the huge load factor listed by the
61 MAH4546: Somebody mentioned JFK/LGA/EWR to MIA. Isn't that kinda low-yield? No way. Yields are pretty good. Now JFK/LGA/EWR-JFK, that is low yield.
62 Phfev03: used to be ATL LAX till FL jumped on the bandwagon
63 DALinATL: I believe you guys are forgetting one very important detail: cargo! Yes! ATL-GRU has long been one of DL's most lucrative routes. This is mainly due t
64 Aloha73g: "I believe the absolute most profitable route in the US is HNL to OGG" It isn't. Hawaiian is barely proffitable on interisland routes and Aloha says i
65 BoingGoingGone: TX... My numbers are based on what SkyWest and Eagle report on their form 41 as "overall average" which includes connecting and O&D counts and fares.
66 PVD757: don't think it's the most lucrative, but I remember sending pax thru JFK to GRU, SAO, EZE?, etc on $9,000.00+ tix. They were rather long itineraries,
67 TxAgKuwait: B.G.G.: You really need to check out the DOT website.
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