IBA’s latest Aviation Industry Barometer reveals that the airline industry’s global passenger capacity is significantly ahead of pre-pandemic levels, with Q3 2024 available seat kilometres (ASKs) at 105% of those in Q3 2019. Year on year, global capacity continues to increase, with ASKs in Q3 2024 6.9% ahead of Q3 2023.
The highest growth came from the Asia Pacific region, where ASKs have grown 10.9% year on year, particularly in international capacity.
Data from IBA’s aviation intelligence platform, IBA Insight, further showed that in the third quarter of 2024:
- Compared to pre-pandemic levels, Latin America has seen the strongest capacity growth (119% vs Q3 2019), followed by Africa (113%), North America (107%), Asia Pacific (104%), the Middle East (103%), and Europe (101%).
- Passenger ASKs from Chinese operators were at 113% of 2019 levels in Q3 2024.
- Overall, there were approximately 9.42 million commercial passenger flights during Q3 2024 – a year-on-year increase of 4.7% compared to Q3 2023. During this period, international flight volumes grew 8.5% year-on-year, while domestic travel showed more modest growth at 2.5% year-on-year.
- There were 323 commercial aircraft deliveries in Q3 2024, representing a variance of 6% and -24% to Q3 2023 and Q3 2018 respectively.
- From Q1 to Q3, Airbus A320neo deliveries have averaged 45 aircraft per month, compared to the Boeing 737 MAX at 25 per month.
- 1.50 million commercial passenger flights were recorded by Chinese operators (airlines) in Q3 2024, compared to 1.38 million in Q3 2023 and 1.27 million in Q3 2019.
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