International Premium Air Travel Surges 11.8 Pct In 2024 -- IATA

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 4 (Bernama) -- The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has reported an 11.8 per cent surge in international premium class travel -that’s business and first class - in 2024.

The aviation body said the number outpaced the 11.5 per cent growth in global economy class travel, according to its latest World Air Transport Statistics (WATS) report.

It noted that the Asia Pacific region led in terms of percentage growth, with a year-on-year (y-o-y) increase of 22.8 per cent, carrying 21 million premium passengers.

“Although it was outpaced in growth by economy class passenger numbers, up 28.6 per cent to 500.8 million, growth in premium travel exceeded economy class travel in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North America,” it said in a statement today.

IATA noted that Europe remained the largest market for international premium travel, with 39.3 million premium passengers, while premium travellers as a percentage of all travellers were highest in the Middle East at 14.7 per cent.

On the world’s busiest airport pairs, the association said Asia Pacific dominated the rankings, with Jeju-Seoul named the most popular route globally, carrying 13.2 million passengers in 2024.

Meanwhile, IATA said aircraft from Boeing and Airbus were the most used in 2024.

“Boeing 737 aircraft (including all variants) flew 10 million flights with 2.4 trillion available seat kilometres (ASKs) in 2024. This 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,” it noted.

IATA also highlighted that the United States remained the world’s largest aviation market with 876 million passengers in 2024, supported by its domestic market, which grew 5.2 per cent year-on-year.

China was the second-largest passenger market, with 741 million passengers, representing an 18.7 per cent increase compared to 2023.

-- BERNAMA