Airline Industry Performance Statistics 2015

Montreal - 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 passengers - 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.

Highlights of the 2015 airline industry performance:

Airline Passenger Numbers 2015

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:

Asia-Pacific 34% market share

1.2 billion passengers, an increase of 10% compared to the region's passengers in 2014

Europe 26.2% market share

935.5 million passengers, up 6.7% over 2014

North America 24.8% market share

883.2 million, up 5.2% over 2014

Latin America 7.5% market share

267.6 million, up 4.7%

Middle East 5.3% market share

188.2 million, an increase of 8.1%

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:

American Airlines

146,5 million

Southwest Airlines

144.6 million

Delta Air Lines

138.8 million

China Southern Airlines

109.3 million

Ryanair

101.4 million

The top five international/regional passenger airport-pairs were all within the Asia-Pacific region:

Hong Kong - Taipei

5.1 million, up 2.1% from 2014

Jakarta - Singapore

3.4 million, down 2.6%

Bangkok Suvarnabhumi - Hong Kong

3 million, increase of 29.2%

Kuala Lumpur - Singapore

2.7 million, up 13%

Hong Kong - Singapore

2.7 million, down 3.2%

The top five domestic passenger airport-pairs were also all in the Asia-Pacific region:

Jeju - Seoul Gimpo

11.1 million, up 7.1% over 2014

Sapporo - Tokyo Haneda

7.8 million, up 1.3%

Fukuoka - Tokyo Haneda

7.6 million, a decrease of 7.4% from 2014

Melbourne Tullamarine - Sydney

7.2 million, down 2.2%

Beijing Capital - Shanghai Hongqiao

6.1 million, up 6.1% from 2014

Airline Cargo Figures 2015

Globally, cargo markets showed a 2.3% expansion in freight and mail tonne kilometres (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:

FedEx Express

7.1 million

United Parcel Service

4.5 million

Emirates Airline

2.5 million

Cathay Pacific Airways

1.6 million

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.