IATA Releases 2024 WATS Report, Reveals World’s Most Used Aircraft

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released the latest edition of the World Air Transport Statistics (WATS) with comprehensive statistical data for 2024. 

Updated annually with data from over 240 international airlines, the WATS database provides a complete overview of airline metrics related to demand, supply, and performance. The report includes a detailed breakdown of scheduled passenger and cargo traffic demand, scheduled passenger and cargo capacity, overview of the global airline fleet, and top airport pairs.

The report also provides details on the financial health of the industry with in-depth information on operating costs and revenue, aircraft utilization and number of airline employees. 

Premium Classes Show Strong Growth

A key finding from this year’s report showed that international premium class travel—business and first class—grew by 11.8%, outpacing growth in global economy travel of 11.5%. The total number of international premium-class travelers in 2024 was 116.9 million (6% of total international passengers).

Leading the regions in terms of percentage growth was Asia Pacific with a year-on-year growth of 22.8% with 21 million premium passengers—although it was outpaced in growth by economy class passenger numbers, up 28.6% to 500.8 million.

Growth in premium travel exceeded economy class travel in Europe, Latin America, Middle East and North America. Europe remained the largest market for international premium travel, with 39.3 million premium passengers while premium travelers as a percentage of all travelers were highest in the Middle East at 14.7%.

Top Airport Pairs

Asia Pacific dominated the ranking for the world’s busiest airport pairs, with Jeju-Seoul (CJU-GMP) the most popular route globally, with13.2 million passengers flying between the two airports in 2024. In the top 10, only one airport pair—Jeddah-Riyadh (JED-RUH) —was not in the Asia Pacific region.

Bogota-Medellin (BOG-MDE) was the busiest route in Latin America with 3.8 million passengers while Cape Town-Johannesburg (JNB-CPT) was Africa’s busiest route, with 3.3 million passengers. New York John F. Kennedy International Airport-Los Angeles (JFK-LAX) was the busiest route in North America with 2.2 million passengers while Barcelona-Palma de Mallorca (BCN-PMI) was the busiest within Europe with 2 million passengers.

Most Used Aircraft

Narrowbody aircraft from Boeing and Airbus were among the most used aircraft in 2024. Boeing 737 aircraft (including all variants) flew 10 million flights with 2.4 trillion Available Seat Kilometers (ASKs) in 2024. This was followed by the Airbus A320 with 7.9 million flights and 1.7 trillion ASKs and the Airbus A321 with 3.4 million flights and 1.1 trillion ASKs.

Top Passenger Countries

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% year-on-year. China was the second-biggest passenger market, with 741 million passengers, a growth of 18.7% compared to 2023.