by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 9:00 AM ET, Fri July 17, 2026
Premium travel growth is outpacing other cabin categories in some parts of the world, and air travel in Asia continues to reach new heights, according to data from the International Air Transportation Association’s (IATA) World Air Transport Statistics report.
The new edition of the annual report analyzes aviation metrics through 2025, explaining demand, supply, operational performance, top routes and more, analyzing data from over 1,300 airlines.
Premium-Class Travel Grows in Popularity
As we’ve heard airline executives say plenty of times, growing premium travel demand is boosting revenue for airlines around the world. IATA found that international premium-class passengers, or those who fly business and first class, increased 4.5% last year, reaching 109.7 million travelers.
Premium passengers accounted for 5.5% of all international travelers.
Latin America saw the largest increase in premium travelers, at 22.1%. Yet North America and the Middle East accounted for the largest shares of premium passengers relative to total passenger numbers.
For example, premium-class travel increased 4.6% for international travel to North America, but economy travel actually dropped by 0.4%.
The Busiest Routes
Asia is dominating with the world’s busiest routes, or airport pairs. The most popular route in the world? The one between Jeju International Airport and Seoul’s Gimpo International Airport, which hasn’t changed since 2024. In 2025, 13.3 million passengers traveled between these airports.
The top ten busiest routes are all in Asia, except for one: the route between Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport and Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport, in fifth place.
By region, the most popular route in North America in 2025 was between New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport, with 2.2 million travelers flying between the two airports.
In Europe, the most popular route was between Barcelona’s airport and that of Palma de Mallorca, a popular Spanish island, with 2.1 million passengers transiting between the two.
In Africa, the two busiest routes tied for passenger totals: the route between Cape Town International Airport and Johannesburg had the same number of travelers as the route between Cape Town and Tambo International Airport, with both routes carrying 3.4 million travelers between them.
Lastly, in South America, the busiest route was between Bogotá’s El Dorado International Airport and Medellín’s José María Córdova International Airport, which flew 3.5 million passengers.
The Top Passenger Markets
In 2025, the United States remained the top passenger market for air travel, with 890.1 million passengers both arriving and departing. Yet the data show it also recorded the slowest growth among the top ten passenger markets, putting it at risk of losing its acclaimed top spot.
It grew just 1.6% last year, compared with China, which recorded 4.8% growth as the world’s second-largest passenger market, welcoming 776.1 million travelers.
The other top passenger markets include the United Kingdom, Spain, Japan, India, Italy, Germany, France and Turkiye.
When it comes to the fastest-growing passenger markets, the numbers point to smaller, emerging destinations: Kazakhstan saw a 40% increase in passengers, while Uzbekistan saw 16.9% growth from the year prior.
Modernizing Aircraft
Last year, the world’s air travelers also likely flew on far newer aircraft more often: while the Airbus A380 has been declining 24.4% from 2019 to 2025, the Boeing 787 saw a 40.8% increase, the Airbus A350 saw a 117.4% increase, the Airbus A321 recorded a 61.6% percent increase, and the Airbus A220 saw a 770.4% increase.
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