India’s domestic air passenger growth world’s fastest

India had the fastest domestic air passenger growth in the world in 2015, the latest International Air Transport Association (IATA) figures have revealed. 

Domestic passenger traffic rocketed 18.8% last year, in a market with 80 million domestic passengers.

India’s performance surpassed that of Russia (11.9% growth in a market of 47 million domestic passengers), China (9.7% growth in a marketing of 394 million domestic passengers) and the United States (5.4% in a market of 708 million domestic passengers).

This information was included in the 60th Edition of the World Air Transport Statistics (WATS), the yearbook outlining the airline industry’s performance.

“Last year airlines safely carried 3.6 billion passengers—the equivalent of 48% of the Earth’s population—and transported 52.2 million tonnes of cargo worth around $6 trillion. In doing so, we supported some $2.7 trillion in economic activity and 63 million jobs,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s director general and CEO.

Key findings of WATS include that system-wide, airlines carried 3.6 billion passengers on scheduled services, an increase of 7.2% over 2014, representing an additional 240 million air trips.

Airlines in the Asia-Pacific region, which includes India, once again carried the largest number of passengers.

Asia-Pacific commanded a 34% market share with 1.2 billion passengers, an increase of 10% compared to the region’s passengers in 2014.

Europe had a 26.2% market share (935.5 million passengers, up 6.7% over 2014); North America a 24.8% market share (883.2 million, up 5.2% over 2014); Latin America a 7.5% market share (267.6 million, up 4.7%); the Middle East a 5.3% market share (188.2 million, an increase of 8.1%); and Africa a 2.2% market share (79.5 million, up 1.8% over 2014).

The top five airlines ranked by total scheduled passengers carried (domestic and international) were American Airlines (146,5 million); Southwest Airlines (144.6 million); Delta Air Lines (138.8 million); China Southern Airlines (109.3 million); and Ryanair (101.4 million)

Globally, cargo markets showed a 2.3% expansion in freight and mail tonne kilometers (FTKs). This outstripped a capacity increase of 5.8% decreasing freight load factor by 1.6% pp

The top five airlines ranked by total freight tonnes carried on scheduled services were FedEx Express (7.1 million); United Parcel Service (4.5 million); Emirates Airline (2.5 million); Cathay Pacific Airways (1.6 million); and Korean Air (1.5 million).