IATA Releases 2025 Air Transport Statistics

2025 Air Transport Data Highlights Passenger Growth and Fleet Trends

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released the 2025 World Air Transport Statistics (WATS), providing a summary of global aviation metrics such as passenger demand, airline operations, aircraft fleets, key routes, and financial data. Updated yearly, this report compiles information from 1,315 airlines, including in-depth operational details from over 250 international carriers.

Premium Travel Continues to Grow

International premium-class travel continued to expand in 2025, with 109.7 million business- and first-class passengers, an increase of 4.5% from the previous year. Premium travel represented 5.5% of all international passengers.

Latin America recorded the largest year-on-year increase in premium travel, reaching 4 million passengers, while Europe accounted for 39.7 million premium-class travellers. North America and the Middle East recorded the highest share of premium passengers relative to their total passenger traffic.

Asia Accounts for Most Busy Airport Pairs

The Jeju International Airport–Seoul Gimpo International Airport route remained the world’s busiest airport pair in 2025, carrying 13.3 million passengers. Nine of the ten busiest airport pairs were located in the Asia Pacific region, with Jeddah–Riyadh being the only route outside the region to feature in the top ten.

Regional highlights included:

• Cape Town–Johannesburg remained Africa’s busiest airport pair.
• Bogotá–Medellín recorded the highest passenger traffic in Latin America.
• Barcelona–Palma de Mallorca remained Europe’s busiest airport pair.
• Stockholm Arlanda–Malmö recorded the fastest passenger growth in Europe.
• New York JFK–Los Angeles was North America’s busiest domestic route, while New York JFK–London Heathrow remained its busiest international connection.

United States and China Lead Passenger Markets

According to the IATA report, the United States remained the world’s largest passenger market in 2025, handling 890.1 million passengers, followed by China with 776.1 million.

IATA also noted that Kazakhstan recorded a 40% increase in passenger traffic, while Uzbekistan and Vietnam posted notable year-on-year growth.

India ranked sixth globally, handling 218.2 million passengers during the year.

Newer Aircraft Continue to Expand Their Presence

The IATA report highlights continued growth in the use of newer aircraft models. According to IATA, Boeing 787 flights increased by 40.8% compared with 2019, while Airbus A350 operations rose by 117.4% in 2025.

Among narrowbody aircraft, the Boeing 737 family remained the most frequently operated, with 10.8 million flights, followed by the Airbus A320 and A321 families.

Meanwhile, Airbus A380 operations remained below pre-2019 levels, with flights down 24.4% compared with 2019.

The latest WATS report provides a detailed snapshot of aviation trends as airlines continue to expand networks, modernise fleets and respond to changing passenger demand across global markets.

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