In 2024, global airlines achieved a record seat occupancy rate, with an 83.5% load factor for the year, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) December 2024 passenger market performance report. This increase reflects the percentage of available seats filled with paying passengers, showcasing how efficiently airlines utilized their capacity.
International passenger traffic reached new highs, growing by 13.6% year-on-year, while airspace restrictions altered the global network. Revenue Passenger-Kilometers (RPK) also rose by 10.4% compared to the previous year.
Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General, noted that the record load factor in 2024 was partly due to supply chain constraints that limited capacity growth, forcing airlines to optimize available seating.
The report further revealed that global airline capacity increased by 8.7% in 2024. Airline capacity, which refers to the total number of seats available for passengers, played a crucial role in this growth. In terms of international traffic, there was a 13.6% year-on-year increase, with capacity rising by 12.8%. Domestic traffic grew by 5.7%, and capacity expanded by 2.5%.
December 2024 marked a strong finish to the year, with overall demand rising by 8.6% year-on-year and capacity increasing by 5.6%. International demand grew by 10.6%, while domestic demand rose by 5.5%. The December load factor reached a new record of 84%.
For December, international demand increased by 10.6%, capacity grew by 7.7%, and the load factor improved by 2.2 percentage points to 83.9%, compared to December 2023.
The IATA report also included a regional breakdown of airline performance for both the full year and December 2024:
Asia-Pacific airlines led the way, with a 26.0% increase in international traffic compared to 2023, marking the highest year-over-year growth among all regions. Capacity rose by 24.7%, and load factor improved by 0.8 percentage points to 83.8%.
European carriers also performed strongly, with full-year traffic climbing by 9.7% over 2023. Capacity grew by 9.2%, and load factor increased by 0.4 percentage points to 84.1%. December traffic rose by 8.6% compared to the same month in 2023.
Middle Eastern airlines reported a 9.4% increase in annual traffic, with capacity expanding by 8.4%. The region’s load factor increased by 0.7 percentage points to 80.8%. December traffic grew by 7.7% year-on-year.
North American carriers saw a 6.8% increase in full-year traffic, while capacity grew by 7.4%. However, the load factor declined by 0.5 percentage points to 84.2%. For December 2024, traffic rose by 5.1% compared to December 2023.
Latin American airlines posted a strong 14.4% increase in annual traffic, with a 14.3% rise in capacity. The region’s load factor grew slightly by 0.1 percentage points to 84.8%, the highest among all regions. December demand surged by 11.3% compared to the previous year.
African airlines saw a 13.2% increase in annual traffic, with capacity growing by 9.5%. The region’s load factor jumped by 2.5 percentage points to 74.5%, a record high for Africa, though still the lowest globally. December 2024 traffic for African airlines increased by 12.4% over the same month in 2023.
