by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 12:50 PM ET, Thu October 31, 2024
If you’ve traveled by plane during the month of September, then you’ve contributed to what the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has found to be the biggest September for air travel—ever.
The demand for the month, which is measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK), increased 7.1 percent from September 2023. Capacity was also up 5.8 percent from 2023.
What’s driving this historic shoulder season demand? International travel remains a big trend for travelers this year: demand rose 9.2 percent year-over-year, while domestic travel only rose 3.7 percent. Several months have hit all-time air travel records, including this past July.
Airlines in the Asia-Pacific and Latin America regions saw the highest demand, with 18.5 percent and 12.4 percent year-over-year growth. The region with the least growth? North America, which saw only a 0.5 percent increase from last year.
But which regions saw the biggest growth in RPKs from last year? That title goes to the Asia-Pacific region, which saw an increase of 37.1 percent year-over-year. Europe and North America followed with other high increases, at 27.1 percent and 24.2 percent, respectively.
“The year’s peak travel season ended with demand at an all-time high. This is good news not just for passengers but also for the global economy,” said Willie Walsh, Director General of IATA. “Every flight creates more jobs and trade. But the air travel success story is bringing challenges. We will soon face a capacity crunch in some regions which threatens to curtail these economic and social benefits.”
“Governments will face a choice: lose out to more dynamic nations who value global connectivity, or forge a consensus for sustainable growth,” Walsh continued. “Airlines are making significant investments to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. That needs to be accompanied by an equally active political vision, backed-up by actions, to ensure we have efficient and sufficient airport and air traffic management capacity to meet the needs of citizens and businesses to travel.”
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