IATA publishes 2024 World Air Transport Statistics report
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has published its 2024 World Air Transport Statistics report, which is full of interesting details, CE Report quotes Kosova Press.
The United States is the largest aviation market in the world, with 876 million passengers per year in 2024, mostly flying domestically. This is four times more than India, which is the most populous country in the world and the fifth-largest aviation market, according to the BBC.
However, China is right behind the United States in second place, with 741 million passengers in 2024 and a staggering 18.7% year-over-year growth, compared to America's more modest 5.2%.
The United Kingdom, an island nation of just 94,000 square miles, ranks as the third-largest aviation market in the world, with 261 million passengers flying across land and sea in 2024.
Many of these Britons likely traveled to Spain, a favorite holiday destination, which ranks as the 4th largest aviation market, with 241 million passengers last year.
Nine out of the 10 busiest flight routes in the world are in the Asia-Pacific region. However, the busiest flight in the world is a domestic flight in South Korea: the 1 hour and 15-minute journey between the island tourist city of Jeju (CJU) and the capital, Seoul (GMP). More than 13 million passengers flew this route in 2024.
The busiest flight in North America is as classic as ketchup and hot dogs: it's the JFK to LAX route (or New York to Los Angeles, in case you didn’t know), with 2.2 million passengers making the journey last year.
The most popular European route is the one-hour flight between Spain's popular vacation spots, Barcelona (BCN) and Palma de Mallorca (PMI), with 2 million passengers in 2024.
