International premium air travel climbed to 109.7 million passengers in 2025 as global demand for business and first-class flights continued to grow, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Premium Travel Records Steady Growth
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released the latest edition of its World Air Transport Statistics (WATS), providing detailed data on global passenger traffic, airline operations, fleets, employment and financial performance through 2025.
The report showed that international premium-class travel grew by 4.5% year-on-year to 109.7 million passengers. Premium travelers accounted for 5.5% of all international passengers during the year.
However, Latin America posted the fastest growth in premium travel. The region recorded a 22.1% increase to four million passengers, while Europe remained the largest premium travel market with 39.7 million passengers.
Meanwhile, North America and the Middle East recorded the highest share of premium-class passengers relative to total traffic at 10.4% and 9.5%, respectively.
Asia Leads World’s Busiest Air Routes
Asia Pacific continued to dominate the world’s busiest airport pairs in 2025. The Jeju International Airport-Gimpo International Airport route in South Korea retained the top spot with 13.3 million passengers.
The report noted that all of the world’s 10 busiest airport pairs were domestic routes. Jeddah-Riyadh in Saudi Arabia ranked as the only top-10 route outside the Asia Pacific region.
Furthermore, Cape Town-Johannesburg remained Africa’s busiest airport pair, carrying 3.4 million passengers. Bogotá-MedellÃn led Latin America with 3.5 million passengers, while Barcelona-Palma de Mallorca remained Europe’s busiest route with 2.1 million travelers.
Stockholm Arlanda-Malmö recorded Europe’s fastest growth, with passenger traffic surging 85% to more than 271,000 passengers.
In North America, New York’s JFK-Los Angeles remained the busiest domestic route with 2.2 million passengers, while JFK-London Heathrow ranked as the busiest international connection with 2.1 million travelers.
United States Retains Top Passenger Market
The United States remained the world’s largest passenger market in 2025, recording 890.1 million arriving and departing passengers. However, it posted the slowest growth among the top 10 markets, expanding by just 1.6% compared with 2024.
China ranked second with 776.1 million passengers after growing 4.8% year-on-year.
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan emerged as one of the fastest-growing aviation markets, with passenger numbers jumping 40% to 18.1 million. Uzbekistan also recorded strong growth of 16.9% to 12.5 million passengers, while Vietnam expanded by 14.8% to 80.9 million travelers.
The report listed the United Kingdom, Spain, Japan, India, Italy, Germany, France and Türkiye among the world’s 10 largest passenger markets in 2025.
Boeing 737 Remains Most-Flown Aircraft
Boeing and Airbus narrowbody aircraft continued to dominate global airline operations in 2025.
The Boeing 737 remained the world’s most-used aircraft family, operating 10.8 million flights during the year. The Airbus A320 followed with 8.7 million flights, while the Airbus A321 completed 4.2 million flights.
However, newer widebody aircraft continued to gain market share. Flights operated by the Boeing 787 increased by 40.8% compared with 2019, while Airbus A350 operations jumped 117.4%.
In contrast, airlines flew the Airbus A380 less frequently. The superjumbo recorded 24.4% fewer flights in 2025 than before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019.
According to IATA, the latest WATS edition draws on data from 1,315 airlines worldwide, including more than 250 international carriers that directly contributed operational statistics.
