Global January air demand, as measured in revenue passenger kilometers, increased 10 percent year over year, while capacity, as measured in available seat kilometers, was up 7.1 percent, according to the latest report from the International Air Transport Association.
January’s load factor was up 2.2 percentage points to 82.1 percent versus the prior year and was at an all-time high for the month.
International demand in January continued to increase faster than domestic demand, The former was up 12.4 percent year over year, while domestic demand increased 6.1 percent. International capacity increased 8.7 percent compared with January 2024, while domestic capacity was up 4.5 percent.
Load factors for international and domestic demand each were at all-time January highs, with international up 2.7 percentage points to 82.6 percent compared with January 2024, and domestic up 1.2 percentage points to 81.2 percent.
“We’ve seen a notable acceleration in demand this January, with a particularly strong performance by carriers in the Asia-Pacific region,” IATA director general Willie Walsh said in a statement. “The record high load factors that accompany this strong demand are yet another reminder of the persistent supply chain issues in the aerospace sector.”
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For January, Asia-Pacific led the year-over-year growth rates for demand and capacity at 16.1 percent and 11.6 percent, respectively. The region accounted for 33.5 percent of the world’s share using 2024 demand figures. Europe, with a 26.7 percent share, reported demand up 7.4 percent compared with the prior year, and capacity up 5.3 percent. North America’s demand, with 22.9 percent of the world share, increased 3.4 percent year over year, while capacity was up 2.1 percent.
All regions in January showed growth for international air demand, with Asia-Pacific leading with a 21.8 percent increase year over year. In addition, all markets except Europe and North America showed strong acceleration from December 2024 to January 2025, according to IATA. Load factors rose in all markets year over year except for Latin America.
India led the growth rates for January domestic demand at 17.1 percent year over year. China’s 10 percent increase coincided with the beginning of the Lunar New Year travel period, according to IATA. For each country except Brazil and India, the increase in passenger demand outpaced the growth in capacity, pushing load factors higher. Still, India had the highest load factor for the reporting countries at 88.9 percent.
