Southeast Asian air transport shows resilience thanks to intra-regional growth

OAG recently analyzed the air transport market within Southeast Asia. With a positive outcome that the region itself remains the driving force behind tourism recovery within its boundaries. Intra-ASEAN trips grew from 37% of total arrivals in 2019 to 45% in 2024. It is a positive trend as it helps insulate the region from global economic and geopolitical headwinds.

Like everywhere else, ASEAN air travel was hit hard by the pandemic. While capacity continues to rebound, it has yet to reach pre-2019 levels, leaving room for further growth and opportunity.

Malaysia, ASEAN number 1 for air connectivity

During the summer of 2025, airlines scheduled around 46 million seats for travel within the ASEAN bloc. This represented a 7% increase over the previous year, according to OAG. However, it still remains 6% below the 50 million recorded in 2019.

Malaysia has now overtaken Singapore as the top market for intra-ASEAN capacity. It offers 19.3 million seats to neighboring countries, just 5.5% shy of its 2019 total. Singapore follows closely with 19 million seats, about 10% below its pre-pandemic level.

Despite Malaysia’s lead, Singapore remains at the heart of Southeast Asian air connectivity: six of the ten busiest intra-ASEAN routes still originate or end there, highlights OAG report.

Vietnam’s Rapid Rise

At the country level, Vietnam stands out as the fastest-growing player, with seat capacity to other ASEAN destinations up 21.8% year-over-year in summer 2025 — and an impressive 8.5% higher than in 2019.

Connections between Vietnam and Indonesia, the Philippines, and Laos have surged, and the total number of intra-ASEAN routes from Vietnam has expanded from 45 in 2019 to 51 this year. Beyond Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, emerging hubs like Danang and Phu Quoc are seeing more activity, adding five and three new routes respectively.

Secondary Cities Drive the Next Wave

Another trend is the rapidly improving air connectivity of secondary cities. This occurs as most ASEAN capitals are already well connected. Airlines now realize that the real growth opportunity now lies in linking secondary cities . The links are either to capitals or directly to each other.

In summer 2025, capacity on these secondary-city routes jumped 18% compared to 2024, signaling growing commercial, cultural, and leisure ties beyond the main urban centers.

There are now 50 new intra-ASEAN connections compared to 2019, most linking smaller airports. Indonesia leads the charge, accounting for 22 of the new routes. Ten of those connect to Malaysia, including new Kuala Lumpur links to several Indonesian secondary cities and three new routes from Kota Kinabalu. Bali also gained new connections with Hanoi and Phuket.

Phu Quoc’s Skyrocketing Popularity

Vietnam’s Phu Quoc Island continues to shine as a regional leisure hub. Seat capacity between Phu Quoc and Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport soared 265% compared to 2019.

The route, once operated by Bangkok Airways, is now served exclusively by Thai Vietjet, which doubled available seats from 56,880 in 2024 to 107,368 by April 2025. Thai AirAsia and Thai Lion Air also introduced new services from Bangkok Don Mueang, pushing total capacity between the two cities to over 183,000 seats this summer.

Expanding Horizons: Timor-Leste Joins ASEAN

As Timor-Leste prepares to officially join ASEAN by the end of 2025, airlines are racing to establish routes. Batik Air Malaysia launched direct flights from Kuala Lumpur to Dili in June, while Singapore–Timor-Leste capacity surged an extraordinary 2,697%, from just 354 seats in 2019 to 9,900 this summer.

Despite this spike, Timor-Leste’s overall seat numbers remain far below regional averages — but it’s a sign of growing integration and investment in the region’s newest member-to-be.

Regional Travel: A Strategic Lifeline

As global travel faces turbulence from protectionist policies, volatile economies, and geopolitical tensions, ASEAN’s growing intra-regional connectivity remains strong. A good example is the recent border disputes between Thailand and Cambodia. It  led to temporary land crossing closures earlier this year, leaving air travel as the only dependable option.

Top 10 Intra-ASEAN Routes by Seat Capacity, Summer 2025

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