Over 4 billion passengers globally flew last year: IATA

Montreal: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released performance figures for 2018 showing that global air connectivity continues to become more accessible and more efficient. The IATA World Air Transport Statistics (2019 WATS) showed that 4.4 billion passengers flew in 2018, a 6.9 percent increase on the year before.

Record efficiency was also highlighted in the by the association, which noted that 81.9 percent of available seats were fileld last year.

In a press release the IATA said, "22,000 city pairs are now connected by direct flights, up 1,300 over 2017 and double the 10,250 city pairs connected in 1998."
Airlines in the Asia-Pacific region carried the largest number of passengers in 2018. They had a market share of 37.1 percent market share or 1.6 billion passengers, a 9.2 percent increase from 2017.

Europe was second with 26.2 percent market share or 1.1 billion passengers, a 6.6 percent rise compared to 2017. North America was third with a 22.6 percent market share (989.4 million passengers).

Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO, said, “Airlines are connecting more people and places than ever before. The freedom to fly is more accessible than ever. And our world is a more prosperous place as a result. As with any human activity this comes with an environmental cost that airlines are committed to reducing. We understand that sustainability is essential to our license to spread aviation’s benefits. From 2020 we will cap net carbon emissions growth. And, by 2050, we will cut our net carbon footprint to half 2005 levels.

“This ambitious climate action goal needs government support. It is critical for sustainable aviation fuels, new technology and more efficient routes to deliver the greener future we are aiming for,” he added.

The top five nationalities travelling international routes in 2018 were the UK (with 126 million or 8.6 percent of all passengers), the US (111.5 million or 7.6 percent), China (97 million or 6.6 percent), Germany(94.3 million or 6.4 percent), and France (59.8 million or 4.1 percent).

Additionally, after a very strong year in 2017, air freight volumes grew more modestly in 2018 in line with global trade volumes. Globally, freight and mail tonne kilometres (FTKs) showed a 3.4 percent expansion as compared to 9.7 percent in 2017. With capacity increasing by 5.2 percent in 2018, the freight load factor fell by 0.8 percentage point to 49.3 percent.