The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has affirmed that the United States, China, and the United Kingdom were the top three countries for passenger traffic in 2024, combining to carry a staggering 1.88 billion passengers, according to its latest World Air Transport Statistics (WATS) report released on August 4, 2025.
The United States led the global air travel charts with 876 million passengers, largely due to strong performance in its vast domestic market. China followed closely with 741 million passengers, reflecting an 18.7% year‑on‑year increase. The United Kingdom secured third place with 261 million travellers, registering a 7.3% growth from 2023.
The report also highlights aircraft usage trends: the Boeing 737 family logged approximately 10 million flights, delivering 2.4 trillion available seat kilometres (ASK). The Airbus A320 followed with about 7.9 million flights and 1.7 trillion ASKs, while the larger A321 model reported nearly 3.4 million flights and 1.1 trillion ASKs.
A notable feature of the report is the stronger growth in international premium-class travel—which includes first and business classes—rising by 11.8% in 2024, outpacing the 11.5% growth seen in global economy travel. International premium-class traffic tallied 116.9 million passengers, representing 6% of all international traffic.
The Asia-Pacific region led in premium travel growth with a 22.8% increase, carrying 21 million premium passengers. Economy traffic outpaced even this, surging by 28.6% to deliver 500.8 million passengers. While growth was strong elsewhere, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America also recorded premium travel gains that matched or exceeded economy class expansion.
Asia-Pacific continues to dominate global airport pairs. The Jeju–Seoul corridor in South Korea remained the busiest route worldwide, with 13.2 million passengers carried in 2024. Only one non–Asia‑Pacific route—Jeddah–Riyadh in Saudi Arabia—made the top ten list.
Regionally, Cape Town–Johannesburg topped African routes (3.3m), Bogota–Medellin led Latin America (3.8m), New York JFK–Los Angeles led North America (2.2m), and Barcelona–Palma de Mallorca led Europe (2.0m).
IATA’s WATS report compiles data from over 240 airlines, covering passenger and cargo traffic, capacity, fleet composition, operating costs, revenue, and efficiency metrics .
In 2024, global revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) increased by 10.4%, while available seat kilometres (ASK) rose by 8.7%, driving average load factors to **83.5%** .
IATA also raised global airline profit forecasts to US $30.5 billion for the year, buoyed by rising passenger revenues—though persistent challenges remain, including tight profit margins, fuel costs, and supply chain delays in aircraft production.
While Africa contributes just 2.2% of global passenger traffic, the sector is experiencing steady recovery. Region-wide RPK growth reached 13.3% in 2024, supported by economic improvement and eased travel restrictions.
Industry observers say the dominance of the US, China, and UK underscores the continuing concentration of aviation power, and signals the urgent need for African states to diversify aviation investments, modernise infrastructure, and improve air connectivity networks to achieve competitive parity.
IATA’s data suggests global aviation will continue evolving, shaped by changing demographics, rising incomes, and policy shifts including sustainability mandates. As domestic demand in Asia-Pacific rebounds strongly, and premium travel segments grow faster than economy, airlines must adopt flexible fleet strategies and prioritise high-yield routes and classes.