Global air passenger demand rose by 2.6% in June 2025 compared to the same month last year, according to the latest data released by the International Air Transport Association (Iata).
This marks a slowdown in growth, with IATA attributing the softer performance to disruptions caused by military conflict in the Middle East.
Total capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASK), increased by 3.4% year-on-year. However, demand growth lagged, resulting in a global load factor of 84.5%, down 0.6 percentage points from June 2024.
"In June, demand for air travel grew by 2.6%. That’s a slower pace than we have seen in previous months and reflects disruptions around military conflict in the Middle East," says Willie Walsh, Iata’s director general.
"With demand growth lagging the 3.4% capacity expansion, load factors dipped 0.6 percentage points from their all-time record-high levels. At 84.5% globally, however, load factors are still very strong. And with a modest 1.8% capacity growth visible in August schedules, load factors over the Northern summer are unlikely to stray far from their recent historic highs."
Regional performance mixed
Asia-Pacific continued to lead global growth, with a 5% year-on-year rise in RPKs and a load factor of 83%. Latin America saw the strongest regional performance with a 7.9% increase in total traffic, although capacity growth of 9.6% pushed the load factor down to 82.9%.
By contrast, demand in the Middle East and North America was virtually flat. The Middle East region saw a 0.2% drop in total traffic, and international traffic declined by 0.4%, affected heavily by regional conflict. Load factor on routes to North America and Europe declined sharply, with international traffic to North America dropping 7% year-on-year.
Africa recorded a 0.8% increase in overall passenger traffic, with a load factor of 74.6%, the lowest among all regions. IATA noted that African carriers may be facing increased competitive pressure from European and Middle Eastern airlines.
International traffic
International passenger demand grew 3.2% year-on-year in June. However, load factors declined across all regions as capacity increases outpaced growth in demand.
• Asia-Pacific carriers saw a 7.2% increase in international demand, with load factor at 82.9% (-0.2 ppt).
• European airlines grew international traffic by 2.8%, with load factor at 87.4% (-0.4 ppt).
• North American carriers saw a slight 0.3% decline in international traffic, with load factor dropping by 2.2 ppt to 86.9%.
• Latin American carriers reported a 9.3% rise in international RPKs, but the load factor declined 1.9 ppt to 83.3%.
• Middle Eastern carriers experienced a 0.4% fall in international traffic. Load factor dropped to 78.7%.
• African carriers posted a 0.3% decline in international traffic, with a stable capacity and a load factor of 74.6%.
Domestic market roundup
Domestic markets rose by 1.6% overall, with a 2.1% increase in capacity and a load factor of 84.7%.
Brazil led with a strong 14.7% year-on-year growth in domestic demand, while China and India also posted notable increases of 3.8% and 5.4% respectively. The United States recorded only a marginal 0.1% increase in RPKs, though it maintained a high load factor of 86%.
Load factors fell in most domestic markets, with India recording the sharpest decline (-2.9 ppt), while Japan was the only market to see a rise (+2.3 ppt).
