Travel, Tourism & Hospitality
IATA's 2024 report shows 11.8pc growth in premium travel
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) latest edition of the World Air Transport Statistics (WATS) for 2024 report revealed 11.8 per cent growth in international premium class travel, outpacing 11.5 per cent growth in global economy travel.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) latest edition of the World Air Transport Statistics (WATS) for 2024 report revealed an 11.8 per cent growth in international premium class travel (business and first class), outpacing the 11.5 per cent growth in global economy travel.
The total number of international premium-class travellers was 116.9 million, accounting for 6 per cent of total international passengers in 2024.
Leading the regions in terms of percentage growth was Asia Pacific with a year-on-year growth of 22.8 per cent with 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, Middle East and North America.
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.
TOP AIRPORT PAIRS
Asia Pacific dominated the ranking for the world’s busiest airport pairs, with Jeju-Seoul (CJU-GMP) the most popular route globally, with13.2 million passengers flying between the two airports in 2024.
In the top 10, only one airport pair—Jeddah-Riyadh (JED-RUH) —was not in the Asia Pacific region.
Bogota-Medellin (BOG-MDE) was the busiest route in Latin America with 3.8 million passengers while Cape Town-Johannesburg (JNB-CPT) was Africa’s busiest route, with 3.3 million passengers.
New York John F. Kennedy International Airport-Los Angeles (JFK-LAX) was the busiest route in North America with 2.2 million passengers while Barcelona-Palma de Mallorca (BCN-PMI) was the busiest within Europe with 2 million passengers.
MOST USED AIRCRAFT
Narrowbody aircraft from Boeing and Airbus were among the most used aircraft in 2024. Boeing 737 aircraft (including all variants) flew 10 million flights with 2.4 trillion Available Seat Kilometers (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. -TradeArabia News Service