The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced industry performance statistics for 2015 showing that, among the world"™s largest domestic markets, India had the fastest domestic passenger growth in 2015. With annual growth of 18.8% (in a market of 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 market of 394 million domestic passengers) and the United States (5.4% growth, in a market of 708 million domestic passengers).
This information was included in the recently released 60th Edition of the World Air Transport Statistics (WATS), the yearbook of the airline industry"™s performance.
«Last year airlines safely carried 3.6 billion passenger"”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 industry statistics
Passenger
"¢ 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 once again carried the largest number of passengers. The regional ranking (based on total passengers carried on scheduled services by airlines registered in that region) is:
1. Asia-Pacific 34% market share (1.2 billion passengers, an increase of 10% compared to the region"™s passengers in 2014)
2. Europe 26.2% market share (935.5 million passengers, up 6.7% over 2014)
3. North America 24.8% market share (883.2 million, up 5.2% over 2014)
4. Latin America 7.5% market share (267.6 million, up 4.7%)
5. Middle East 5.3% market share (188.2 million, an increase of 8.1%)
6. Africa 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:
1. American Airlines (146,5 million)
2. Southwest Airlines (144.6 million
3. Delta Air Lines (138.8 million)
4. China Southern Airlines (109.3 million)
5. Ryanair (101.4 million)
"¢ The top five international/regional passenger airport-pairs were all within the Asia-Pacific region:
1. Hong Kong-Taipei (5.1 million, up 2.1% from 2014)
2. Jakarta-Singapore (3.4 million, down 2.6%)
3. Bangkok Suvarnabhumi-Hong Kong (3 million, increase of 29.2%)
4. Kuala Lumpur"“Singapore (2.7 million, up 13%)
5. Hong Kong-Singapore (2.7 million, down 3.2%)
"¢ The top five domestic passenger airport-pairs were also all in the Asia-Pacific region:
1. Jeju-Seoul Gimpo (11.1 million, up 7.1% over 2014)
2. Sapporo-Tokyo Haneda (7.8 million, up 1.3%)
3. Fukuoka-Tokyo Haneda (7.6 million, a decrease of 7.4% from 2014)
4. Melbourne Tullamarine-Sydney (7.2 million, down 2.2%)
5. Beijing Capital-Shanghai Hongqiao (6.1 million, up 6.1% from 2014)
Cargo
"¢ 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:
1. FedEx Express (7.1 million)
2. United Parcel Service (4.5 million)
3. Emirates Airline (2.5 million)
4. Cathay Pacific Airways (1.6 million)
5. Korean Air (1.5 million)
Airline Alliances
"¢ Star Alliance maintained its position as the largest airline alliance in 2015 with 23 % of total scheduled traffic (in RPK), followed by SkyTeam (20.4%) and oneworld (17.8%).
The 60th WATS is available for purchase on IATA"™s website at www.iata.org/wats.
