The International Air Transport Association (IATA) have released their annual World Air Transport Statistics (WATS), highlighting evolving trends in the aviation industry through data.
Premium boom continues
One of the report’s key findings concerns the growth of premium travel: the number of business and first class passengers rose by 4.5% between 2024 and 2025 to 109.7 million. The Latin American premium market was the fastest growing year-on-year, but the greatest proportion of front-of-plane passengers is still found in North America (10.4% of travellers) and the Middle East (9.5%).
These numbers reflect existing movements in the industry: LATAM are relaunching their business class to cater to customer demand, while we’ve also seen a slew of low-cost carriers, including Wizz Air, introduce neighbour-free booking to enhance premium ancillaries.
APAC rules with Central Asia the rising star
Other aspects of the report highlight interesting growth trends across the industry. All ten of the world’s busiest airport pairs are on domestic routes, with only one (Jeddah/Riyadh) situated outside the Asia-Pacific region. While the US remains the biggest passenger market, transporting 890.1 million people, it experienced only 1.8% growth from 2024 to 2025. Meanwhile China, the second-biggest market, grew by 4.8%, with remarkable expansion also seen in Japan (9.2%).
Looking to the future, several high-potential markets in Central Asia are experiencing a surge in visitors. Kazakhstan welcomed 40.0% more passengers in 2025 than 2024, while Uzbekistan’s numbers grew by 16.9%. IATA announced earlier this year that they were opening a new regional office in Uzbekistan to promote safety and connectivity in the region as demand for air travel increases.
Aircraft use reflects efficiency drive
When it comes to aircraft models, IATA finds that the Boeing 737 continues to rule the skies, used on 10.8 million flights. However, the deployment of more efficient widebodies has advanced rapidly over the past few years, with use of the Boeing 787 up by 40.8% since 2019, and the Airbus A350 by +117.4%.
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