Premium air travel continued its upward trajectory in 2025, with strong demand for business and first-class services driving growth in higher-value passenger segments.

According to the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) latest World Air Transport Statistics (WATS), international premium-class travel reached 109.7 million passengers in 2025, representing a 4.5% increase compared with the previous year.

The annual report, based on data from 1,315 airlines worldwide, highlights the resilience of premium travel alongside broader developments across global aviation, including passenger demand, operational trends, fleet activity, airline performance and evolving market dynamics.

Premium travellers accounted for 5.5% of all international passengers in 2025.

Latin America recorded the strongest growth in the segment, with premium passenger numbers rising 22.1% to 4 million, while Europe remained the world’s largest premium travel market with 39.7 million passengers.

The Middle East and North America recorded the highest premium-class share of total passengers, underlining the continued importance of premium services in these markets.

Beyond premium travel, global aviation continued to see shifting patterns in connectivity and regional performance.

Asia Pacific remained the centre of global air connectivity, with the Jeju International Airport–Seoul Gimpo International Airport route in South Korea ranking as the world’s busiest airport pair, carrying 13.3 million passengers.

Nine of the top 10 busiest airport pairs were located in the Asia Pacific region, with all of the leading routes being domestic connections.

Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah–Riyadh route was the only non-Asia Pacific entry among the busiest airport pairs.

Regional market highlights included Cape Town–Johannesburg as Africa’s busiest airport pair, Bogotá–Medellín as Latin America’s busiest route, and Barcelona–Palma de Mallorca as Europe’s busiest connection.

In North America, New York JFK–Los Angeles remained the busiest domestic route, while JFK–London Heathrow led international traffic.

The United States remained the world’s largest passenger aviation market in 2025, recording 890.1 million passengers, followed by China with 776.1 million.

Central Asian markets also posted significant expansion, with Kazakhstan passenger numbers rising 40% and Uzbekistan growing 16.9%. Vietnam recorded notable growth as well, increasing 14.8% to 80.9 million passengers.

Aircraft utilisation trends showed continued demand for more efficient aircraft models, with Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 operations increasing significantly since 2019.

Narrowbody aircraft remained the backbone of global aviation, with Boeing 737, Airbus A320 and Airbus A321 fleets accounting for the highest number of flights worldwide in 2025. -TradeArabia News Service