The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released its December and year-end data for 2024, revealing a record number of passengers travelled by air last year.
Full-year international traffic (measured in revenue passenger kilometres or RPKs) surpassed the previous 2019 high by 0.5% in 2024, with growth in all regions. Capacity (measured in available seat kilometres – ASK) was 0.9% lower than 2019. The load factor improved by 0.5 percentage points, finishing on 83.2%, a record high. As for the month of December, compared to 2023, international demand grew by 10.6%, capacity increased 7.7% and the load factor improved by 2.2 percentage points to 83.9%.
“2024 made it absolutely clear that people want to travel. With 10.4% demand growth, travel reached record numbers domestically and internationally. Airlines met that strong demand with record efficiency,” said IATA Director General Willie Walsh. “Aviation growth reverberates across societies and economies at all levels through jobs, market development, trade, innovation, exploration, and much more.”
Regionally, Asia-Pacific airlines posted the highest increase, with a 26.0% rise in full year international 2024 traffic compared to 2023, maintaining the strongest year-over-year rate among the regions. Capacity rose 24.7% and the load factor climbed 0.8 percentage points to 83.8%. Despite this strong growth, opportunities for further growth remain high, as international RPKs remain 8.7% below 2019 levels. December 2024 traffic rose 17.1% compared to December 2023.
European carriers’ full year traffic climbed 9.7% versus 2023. Capacity increased 9.2% and load factor rose 0.4 percentage points to 84.1%. For December, demand climbed 8.6% compared to the same month in 2023.
Middle Eastern airlines saw a 9.4% traffic rise in 2024 compared to 2023. Capacity increased 8.4% and load factor climbed 0.7 percentage points to 80.8%. December demand climbed 7.7% compared to the same month in 2023.
North American carriers reported a 6.8% annual traffic rise in 2024 compared to 2023. Capacity increased 7.4% and load factor fell 0.5 percentage points to 84.2%. December 2024 traffic rose 5.1% compared to the year-ago period.
Latin American airlines posted a 14.4% traffic rise in 2024 over full year 2023. Annual capacity climbed 14.3% and load factor increased 0.1 percentage points to 84.8%, the highest among the regions. December demand climbed 11.3% compared to December 2023.
African airlines’ annual traffic rose 13.2% in 2024 versus the prior year. Full year 2024 capacity was up 9.5% and load factor climbed 2.5 percentage points to 74.5%, the lowest among regions but a record high for Africa. December 2024 traffic for African airlines rose 12.4% over December 2023.
Meanwhile, domestic full-year demand also reached record highs for passenger numbers and load factors. The standout performer for 2024 Domestic RPK was once again China, which increased 12.3% over 2023.
There was stable growth across other major domestic markets. To note, Japan achieved 3.2% growth while capacity contracted by 0.3%. Only India had a fall in load factor (-0.6 %), but still achieved a load factor of 86.4% — the highest among all domestic markets.
As for the year ahead, Walsh says travel demand will continue to grow, albeit at a lower pace of 8%, which, he explains, is more in line with historical averages. However he acknowledges two main challenges. A shorter effect one – the recent accident in Washington that might deter people from flying for a while – and a long term one – the short supply of SAF (sustainable aviation fuel) compared to the needs of reaching net-zero by 2050.
