17-Jul-2026 12:23 PM
IATA reports growth in premium travel and Central Asia traffic in 2025
IATA reported (16-Jul-2026) the following highlights from its 2025 World Air Transport Statistics:
- Top markets:
- The US remained the biggest passenger market with 890.1 million arriving and departing passengers, but recorded the slowest growth among the top 10 markets at 1.6% year-on-year;
- China was the second largest market with 776.1 million passengers, up 4.8%;
- Central Asian countries were among the fastest growing markets, including Kazakhstan (+40% to 18.1 million) and Uzbekistan (+16.9% to 12.5 million). Vietnam also recorded strong growth with 80.9 million, up 14.8%;
- The top 10 busiest airport pairs were all domestic and Asia Pacific accounted for nine of the top 10. Seoul Gimpo-Jeju remained the busiest route with 13.3 million passengers;
- Jeddah-Riyadh was the only top 10 route outside Asia Pacific;
- Bogotá-Medellín was the busiest route in Latin America with 3.5 million passengers;
- Johannesburg-Cape Town was the busiest route in Africa with 3.4 million passengers;
- New York JFK-Los Angeles was the busiest route in North America with 2.2 million passengers. New York JFK-London Heathrow was the busiest international airport pair from North America with 2.1 million passengers;
- Barcelona-Palma de Mallorca was the busiest route in Europe with 2.1 million passengers. Stockholm Arlanda-Malmö recorded the fastest growth in Europe, up 85% to 271,031;
- Business and first class passenger numbers increased 4.5% to 109.7 million, accounting for 5.5% of international travellers;
- Europe remained the largest market for premium travel with 39.7 million passengers;
- Latin America recorded the largest growth, with a 22.1% increase to four million;
- North America (10.4%) and the Middle East (9.5%) recorded the highest proportions of premium passengers;
- Airbus and Boeing narrowbodies remained the most used aircraft. The A320 operated 8.7 million flights, the A321 operated 4.2 million and the 737 operated 10.8 million. The A350 (+117.4%) and 787 (+40.8%) recorded significantly more flights compared to 2019, while A380 usage declined 24.4%. [more - original PR]