India has soared to the fifth position among the world’s largest aviation markets in 2024, handling an impressive 241 million air passengers, according to the latest World Air Transport Statistics (WATS) released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents around 350 global airlines.
The data highlights India’s growing aviation footprint, with the Mumbai-Delhi route standing out as the 7th busiest air corridor globally, recording 5.9 million passengers during the year. Among the top 10 global airport pairs, nine were located in the Asia-Pacific region, with Jeju-Seoul (South Korea) being the busiest, carrying 13.2 million passengers. The only exception outside Asia-Pacific was Jeddah-Riyadh (Saudi Arabia).
The United States maintained its lead as the top aviation market, handling 876 million passengers in 2024, buoyed by a strong domestic segment that grew 5.2% year-on-year. China followed with 741 million passengers, registering a robust 18.7% growth over the previous year. The United Kingdom (261 million) and Spain (241 million) secured the third and fourth positions, respectively.
IATA’s report also highlighted a surge in premium international travel, with business and first-class segments growing by 11.8%, slightly ahead of economy class growth at 11.5%. The total number of premium international travellers reached 116.9 million in 2024, accounting for 6% of global international passengers.
The Asia-Pacific region led in passenger growth, with a remarkable 22.8% rise in premium travellers (21 million passengers) and an even sharper 28.6% increase in economy class traffic, totalling 500.8 million economy passengers.
Among other key insights, Europe topped the international premium market with 39.3 million premium passengers, while the Middle East recorded the highest share of premium travellers, making up 14.7% of all its international passengers.
On the aircraft front, Boeing and Airbus narrow-body jets dominated the skies. Boeing’s 737 series completed 10 million flights, delivering 2.4 trillion Available Seat Kilometres (ASKs), followed by Airbus A320 with 7.9 million flights (1.7 trillion ASKs) and Airbus A321 with 3.4 million flights (1.1 trillion ASKs). ASK is a key metric indicating airline seating capacity.
India’s leap in the global aviation rankings, paired with Mumbai-Delhi’s rise among the world’s busiest routes, reflects the country’s rapidly evolving air travel landscape and increasing connectivity within and beyond its borders.
