The finding was revealed in the latest edition of the World Air Transport Statistics (WATS), released last week by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Latin America saw the largest jump in premium-class passengers, rising 22.1% to 4.0 million. Europe remained the biggest market for premium travel, with 39.7 million passengers in 2025. However, North America (10.4%) and the Middle East (9.5%) accounted for the highest shares of premium-class passengers as a proportion of total passenger numbers.
Updated annually, WATS provides data related to demand, supply and operational performance. WATS also includes data collections on the global airline fleet, top routes, employment, and financial performance (costs and revenues). It incorporates data from the 1,315 airlines in the IATA Annual Statistics collection.
Asia Pacific dominated the ranking of the world’s busiest airport pairs, with Jeju International Airport-Seoul’s Gimpo International Airport (CJU-GMP) remaining the most popular route globally, with 13.3 million passengers traveling between the two airports.
New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport (JFK-LAX) was the busiest domestic airport pair in North America with 2.2 million passengers, and JFK-London Heathrow (JFK-LHR) was the busiest international airport pair from North America with 2.1 million passengers.
The United States remains the world’s biggest passenger market, with 890.1 million passengers (both arriving and departing) recorded in 2025. However, it recorded the slowest growth of the world’s top 10 markets, up just 1.6% year-on-year compared to 2024. China was the second-biggest passenger market, with 776.1 million passengers in 2025, a growth of 4.8% compared to 2024.
