India has solidified its position as the world’s fifth-largest aviation market, handling 241 million passengers in 2024, according to the latest World Air Transport Statistics (WATS) report released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
The report, which includes both domestic and international passenger traffic data, shows India managed 211 million air passengers last year, marking an 11.1% increase from 2023. This placed India ahead of Japan, which recorded 205 million passengers and saw an annual growth of 18.6%.
Globally, the United States remained the dominant aviation market with 876 million passengers, driven largely by its vast domestic air travel network, which grew 5.2% year-on-year. China followed in second place with 741 million passengers, registering an 18.7% rise compared to the previous year.
The top five aviation markets in 2024 were:
- United States – 876 million
- China – 741 million
- United Kingdom – 261 million
- Spain – 241 million
- India – 241 million
One of India’s busiest routes, the Mumbai–Delhi corridor, ranked seventh globally among the world’s top 10 airport pairs, with 5.9 million passengers traveling the route in 2024.
The report highlighted that Asia Pacific dominated the list of busiest air routes, with the Jeju–Seoul (CJU–GMP) sector in South Korea topping the chart at 13.2 million passengers. Of the top 10 airport pairs, only Jeddah–Riyadh (JED–RUH) in Saudi Arabia was outside the Asia-Pacific region.
In terms of cabin class, premium international travel (business and first class combined) grew by 11.8%, slightly outpacing economy class growth of 11.5%. A total of 116.9 million premium passengers flew internationally in 2024, making up 6% of the total global international passenger traffic.
Asia Pacific led the way in year-on-year growth of premium travel with a 22.8% increase, accounting for 21 million passengers in this segment. However, economy class in the region grew even faster — up 28.6% to 500.8 million passengers.
Other notable regional trends:
- Europe had the highest number of premium international travelers at 39.3 million.
- The Middle East had the highest share of premium passengers as a percentage of all travelers at 14.7%.
- Premium travel growth outpaced economy class in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America.
On the aircraft front, Boeing and Airbus narrow-body jets were the most widely used planes last year. The Boeing 737 led with 10 million flights and generated 2.4 trillion Available Seat Kilometres (ASKs) — a key measure of airline capacity. It was followed by the Airbus A320, with 7.9 million flights and 1.7 trillion ASKs, and the Airbus A321, with 3.4 million flights and 1.1 trillion ASKs.
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