The International Air Transport Association released the 2025 edition of the World Air Transport Statistics (WATS) this week, covering data through 2025. The annual report compiles operational performance, supply, and demand figures from 1,315 airlines, including more than 250 international carriers that contributed specific data to the collection.
Global passenger trends
In 2025, international travelers in business or first class totaled 109.7 million, marking a 4.5 % rise from the previous year. Those passengers made up 5.5 % of the global international travel market. The strongest growth occurred in Latin America, where premium-class travelers climbed 22.1 % to reach 4.0 million. Europe continued to host the largest number of premium flyers, with 39.7 million, while the highest ratios of premium seats relative to all passengers were found in North America (10.4 %) and the Middle East (9.5 %).
The United States remained the world’s biggest passenger market with 890.1 million passengers recorded in 2025. China followed as the second-largest market with 776.1 million passengers, a 4.8% increase compared to 2024. The U.S. market grew by just 1.6% year-on-year, the slowest growth among the world’s top 10 markets. Several Central Asian countries recorded strong growth, including Kazakhstan, which saw a 40.0% year-on-year surge to 18.1 million passengers.
Busiest airport pairs
The route between Jeju International Airport and Seoul’s Gimpo International Airport remained the most popular globally, with 13.3 million passengers. All of the top 10 busiest airport pairs were domestic connections, with only one pair—Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport to Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport—located outside the Asia Pacific region.
Related Post: Jamaica to Host World Travel Week and Tourism Resilience Awards
Cape Town International Airport and Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport was Africa’s busiest airport pair, with 3.4 million passengers. Bogotá’s El Dorado International Airport to MedellĂn’s JosĂ© MarĂa CĂłrdova International Airport was the busiest pair in Latin America with 3.5 million passengers. In Europe, the busiest route was between Barcelona’s Josep Tarradellas-El Prat Airport and Palma de Mallorca with 2.1 million passengers.
The ARN-MMX connection between Stockholm Arlanda and Malmö recorded the steepest increase among European routes, jumping 85 % to 271,031 travelers. In North America, the domestic pair linking New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport carried 2.2 million passengers, making it the continent’s most frequented domestic corridor. The same New York hub to London Heathrow (JFK-LHR) led as the busiest outbound international route from North America, with 2.1 million users.
Fleet composition
Over the past six years, newer, more efficient widebody aircraft have increased in usage. The Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 recorded significantly more flights in 2025 than in 2019, with increases of 40.8% and 117.4% respectively. By contrast, the Airbus A380 operated 24.4% fewer flights in 2025 than in 2019.
In 2025, narrow-body jets built by Boeing and Airbus continued to dominate usage statistics. Boeing’s 737 family logged 10.8 million departures, reflecting a 12.0 % increase over 2024. Airbus recorded 8.7 million flights with its A320 model, while the A321 accumulated 4.2 million operations.