GLOBAL AIR TRANSPORT IN 2025: A YEAR OF CONTINUED STRUCTURAL MATURATION

The International Air Transport Association has published the 2025 edition of its World Air Transport Statistics (WATS), an annual compilation of comprehensive industry data covering demand, supply and operational performance across the global airline network. The 2025 WATS draws on the IATA Annual Statistics collection, encompassing 1,315 airlines, including more than 250 international carriers providing specific data contributions to the report. The headline picture is one of continued growth, structural shifts in fleet composition and the ongoing redistribution of aviation demand towards high-growth economies and emerging markets.

PREMIUM TRAVEL: 109.7 MILLION PASSENGERS; LATIN AMERICA LEADS GROWTH

International premium-class travel — business and first class combined — reached 109.7 million passengers in 2025, an increase of 4.5% year-on-year. Premium passengers accounted for 5.5% of all international travellers. Regional performance showed significant variation: Latin America recorded the largest year-on-year growth in premium-class passengers, rising 22.1% to 4.0 million — an exceptional rate that reflects the recovery and expansion of long-haul business and high-end leisure travel in the region. Europe remained the largest absolute market for premium travel with 39.7 million passengers in 2025, while North America and the Middle East accounted for the highest proportions of premium passengers relative to total passenger numbers, at 10.4% and 9.5% respectively.

ASIA PACIFIC DOMINATES BUSIEST AIRPORT PAIRS

Asia Pacific’s dominance of the world’s busiest airport pairs continued in 2025. The Jeju International Airport to Seoul’s Gimpo International Airport route (CJU–GMP) remained the world’s most travelled airport pair, with 13.3 million passengers. The top ten busiest airport pairs were all domestic connections; only one — the Jeddah (JED) to Riyadh (RUH) Saudi domestic route — fell outside the Asia Pacific region. The data underlines Asia’s position as the world’s most active short-haul domestic aviation market by volume.

Regional highlights provided additional context. In Africa, the Cape Town International Airport to Johannesburg O.R. Tambo International Airport route (CPT–JNB) was the continent’s busiest airport pair in 2025, with 3.4 million passengers — a figure that reflects the dominance of the Johannesburg–Cape Town corridor in South African domestic aviation and its significance as the primary link between the country’s economic and administrative capital and its most-visited international destination. In Latin America, Bogotá El Dorado to Medellín José María Córdova (BOG–MDE) was the busiest pair with 3.5 million passengers. In Europe, Barcelona El Prat to Palma de Mallorca (BCN–PMI) retained its position as the busiest airport pair with 2.1 million passengers, while Stockholm Arlanda to Malmö (ARN–MMX) was the fastest-growing European pair, surging 85% to 271,031 passengers. In North America, JFK to LAX led domestic pairs with 2.2 million passengers, while JFK to London Heathrow was the busiest international pair at 2.1 million.

TOP PASSENGER MARKETS: KAZAKHSTAN SURGES 40%, US REMAINS THE LARGEST

The United States remained the world’s largest passenger market in 2025, with 890.1 million arrivals and departures recorded — though it posted the slowest growth among the world’s top ten markets, at 1.6% year-on-year. China was the second-largest market, with 776.1 million passengers and 4.8% growth. Several Central Asian countries were among the world’s fastest-growing markets: Kazakhstan recorded a 40.0% surge to 18.1 million passengers, while Uzbekistan reached 12.5 million, up 16.9%. Vietnam was also a standout performer, with 80.9 million passengers in 2025, up 14.8% year-on-year, reflecting the continued rapid development of low-cost aviation across Southeast Asia’s most populous tourism markets.

FLEET USAGE: 787 FLIGHTS UP 41%, A380 DOWN 24% SINCE 2019

One of the most telling structural signals in the WATS data is the shift in fleet utilisation patterns since 2019. The Boeing 787 recorded 40.8% more flights in 2025 than in 2019, and the Airbus A350 recorded an extraordinary 117.4% increase over the same six-year period — confirming the decisive commercial preference for twin-engine widebody efficiency over the four-engine very large aircraft concept. The Airbus A380 operated 24.4% fewer flights in 2025 than in 2019, reflecting the continued reduction in the type’s active fleet following the 2020–2022 pandemic period from which it has not recovered proportionally to the wider widebody market.

Narrowbody aircraft from Boeing and Airbus remained the most-used types in the global fleet in 2025 by volume. Boeing 737 aircraft across all variants operated 10.8 million flights, up 12.0% year-on-year; the Airbus A320 Family operated 8.7 million flights; and the Airbus A321 recorded 4.2 million flights. Together these three families accounted for the vast majority of global flight operations, underpinning the continued centrality of short- and medium-haul narrowbody aviation to the industry’s operational volume.