India Now World’s 5th Largest Aviation Market With 211 Million Air Passengers In 2024 | Auto News

Last Updated:August 04, 2025, 21:22 IST

India handled 211 million air passengers in 2024, surpassing Japan’s 205 million. The US led with 876 million. Mumbai–Delhi was the 7th busiest route globally.

(Representative image / PTI)

India saw 211 million air passengers last year, a growth of 11.1 per cent compared to 2023, ahead of Japan, which handled 205 million passengers with an annual rise of 18.6 per cent, according to the World Air Transport Statistics (WATS) released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

India’s passenger numbers grew 11.1% over 2023, when it handled 211 million flyers, overtaking Japan, which recorded 205 million passengers, despite growing faster at 18.6%, news agency PTI reported.

“The US remains the world’s biggest aviation market with 876 million passengers in 2024 on the strength of its domestic market, growing 5.2 per cent year-on-year.

“China was the second-biggest passenger market, with 741 million passengers, a growth of 18.7 per cent compared to 2023,” it said in a release.

While India stood at the 5th place, the UK at the 3rd spot (261 million passengers) and Spain at the 4th position (241 million). These figures include both domestic and international passengers arriving or departing from each country.

Among global airport pairs, the Mumbai–Delhi sector carried 5.9 million passengers in 2024, placing it 7th worldwide. The Jeju–Seoul (CJU–GMP) route in South Korea topped the chart with 13.2 million passengers.

“Asia Pacific dominated the ranking for the world’s busiest airport pairs,” IATA noted, adding that Jeddah–Riyadh (JED–RUH) was the only non-Asia Pacific route in the top 10.

The Asia Pacific region led in growth with 22.8% more premium flyers year-on-year (21 million travellers). However, economy class travel in the region grew faster, up 28.6% to 500.8 million passengers.

In contrast, regions such as Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America experienced faster growth in premium travel compared to economy. Europe continued to be the largest market for international premium passengers, recording 39.3 million travelers, while the Middle East had the highest proportion of premium flyers at 14.7%.

In 2024, Boeing’s B737 topped global aircraft usage, operating 10 million flights and generating 2.4 trillion Available Seat Kilometres (ASKs). It was followed by the Airbus A320 with 7.9 million flights and 1.7 trillion ASKs, while the Airbus A321 ranked third with 3.4 million flights and 1.1 trillion ASKs. ASK is a key metric used in aviation to measure passenger-carrying capacity.

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