Global air travel rises in February despite domestic decline

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Overall, total passenger demand, measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK), increased by 2.6% compared to February 2024, with capacity rising 2.0% year-on-year. The global load factor improved to 81.1% (+0.4 percentage points).

International travel showed strong momentum, with demand growing 5.6% and capacity increasing 4.5%. The load factor reached 80.2% (+0.9 percentage points). In contrast, domestic travel saw a 1.9% decline in demand, with capacity down 1.7%, resulting in a slight drop in the load factor to 82.6% (-0.2 percentage points).

These trends reflect ongoing recovery in international markets while domestic travel remains under pressure.

Traffic grows, but EU rules pose challenges

“While traffic growth slowed in February, much of this can be explained by factors including the leap year and lunar new year falling in January compared to February last year. February traffic hit an all-time high, and the number of scheduled flights is set to continue increasing in March and April. But we need to keep a close eye on developments in North America, which saw falls in both domestic and international traffic,” said Willie Walsh, Iata's director general.

"The recent shutdown of Heathrow reminded us once again that the current passenger rights regime in place in Europe and the UK is not fit for purpose. The annual costs of compensation, care and assistance run into the billions. Thankfully, the Polish Presidency of the EU has recognised that this is a drag on European competitiveness and is progressing much-needed and long-anticipated reforms to EU261.

"While many of the proposed reforms are sensible, the package stops short of a real solution. Even with the reforms, EU261 will still target the airlines with penalties even if the root cause of delays is an infrastructure incident out of their control—like we saw at Heathrow. Over two decades of EU261 have not seen a reduction in delays because infrastructure providers have no incentive to improve their game.

"Sadly for European travelers, we are likely to see this play out again in this summer’s peak travel season. Genuine reform of EU261 must ensure that all parties responsible for delays have a stake in the consequences," said Walsh.

Air passenger market - February 2025

International passenger markets

International RPK growth moderated to 5.6% in February year-on-year, down from 12.3% growth in January. However, this growth meant that all regions except North America established record February levels of demand.

Asia-Pacific airlines saw a 9.5% year-on-year increase in demand, with capacity up 8.3% and a load factor of 85.7% (+0.9 ppt).

European carriers saw a 5.7% year-on-year demand increase, with capacity up 4.9% and a load factor of 75.5% (+0.5 ppt).

Middle Eastern carriers saw a 3.1% rise in demand year-on-year, with capacity up 1.3% and a load factor of 81.9% (+1.4 ppt).

North American carriers saw a 1.5% drop in demand year-on-year, with capacity down 3.2% and a load factor of 78.9% (+1.3 ppt).

Latin American airlines saw a 6.7% rise in demand year-on-year, with capacity up 9.9% and a load factor of 81.7% (-2.5 ppt).

African airlines saw a 6.7% year-on-year demand increase, with capacity up 4.0% and the load factor rising to 75.3% (+2.0 ppt).

Domestic passenger markets

Domestic RPK fell by -1.9% over the previous February. Load factors were almost flat (-0.2 ppt). Traffic decline in China (-3.2%) was likely due to the Lunar New Year falling in January this year compared to February 2024.

Falling US consumer confidence may well have contributed to the -4.2% decline in domestic US traffic. India continued to see strong demand (+13.2%), with the load factor at 90.3% (+1.4 ppt compared to February 2024).