India has emerged as the world’s fifth-largest aviation market in 2024, handling a total of 241 million air passengers, according to the latest World Air Transport Statistics (WATS) released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

With an 11.1% year-on-year growth, India surpassed Japan, which handled 205 million passengers, to take the fifth spot globally. The data includes both domestic and international passengers arriving or departing from each country.

The United States maintained its position as the world’s largest aviation market with 876 million passengers, followed by China (741 million), the United Kingdom (261 million), and Spain (241 million). India closely followed Spain, cementing its growing influence in the global aviation landscape.

Mumbai-Delhi among World's busiest routes

India’s strong domestic network also featured prominently in IATA’s rankings of the world’s busiest airport pairs. The Mumbai–Delhi route was ranked seventh globally, with 5.9 million passengers flying between the two cities in 2024.

The Asia-Pacific region dominated this list, with Jeju–Seoul (South Korea) topping the chart at 13.2 million passengers. The only non-Asia-Pacific route to break into the top 10 was Jeddah–Riyadh (Saudi Arabia).

Global air travel saw a notable rise in premium class travel (business and first class), which grew 11.8% in 2024, slightly outpacing economy class growth at 11.5%. A total of 116.9 million passengers flew premium class last year, accounting for 6% of all international travellers.

The Asia-Pacific region led in premium passenger growth with a 22.8% year-on-year rise, although economy travel in the region grew even faster at 28.6%, reaching over 500 million passengers.

In contrast, premium travel outpaced economy class growth in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America. Europe remained the largest premium travel market with 39.3 million passengers, while the Middle East had the highest share of premium travellers at 14.7% of its total international passenger count.

Among aircraft types, narrow-body jets from Boeing and Airbus remained the workhorses of global aviation in 2024. The Boeing 737 topped the list, completing over 10 million flights and generating 2.4 trillion Available Seat Kilometres (ASKs), a key metric used to measure airline capacity.

The Airbus A320 followed with 7.9 million flights and 1.7 trillion ASKs, while the Airbus A321 recorded 3.4 million flights and 1.1 trillion ASKs.