Global – The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released global passenger traffic results for October 2025, reporting continued strength in both international and domestic markets despite increasing macroeconomic uncertainty. Total global demand, measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs), rose 6.6% year-on-year, supported by capacity growth of 5.8%, pushing the worldwide load factor to 84.6%.

• International demand increased 8.5% year-on-year, with capacity up 7.1% and load factor improving by 1.1 percentage points to 84.6%.

• Domestic demand rose 3.4%, with capacity up 3.6%; the domestic load factor remained stable at 84.6%.

• IATA noted a rebound in North American international traffic, rising 4.5%, compared to several months of sluggish performance earlier in the year. Scheduled global capacity is forecast to expand 3.6% in November and 4.7% in December, signalling strong year-end leisure and business travel demand.

Regional International Market Highlights

• Asia-Pacific: Demand up 10.9%; capacity up 9.1%; load factor 84.4% (+1.4 ppt). Traffic to/from China, Japan and Vietnam exceeded 10% growth, reflecting robust intra-Asia recovery.

• Europe: Demand up 7.4%; capacity up 6.0%; load factor 86.5% (+1.2 ppt), the highest among all regions.

• North America: Demand up 4.5%; capacity up 4.7%; load factor 84.2% (-0.1 ppt). Transatlantic traffic grew 3.8%.

• Middle East: Demand up 10.7%; capacity up 8.1%; load factor 82.5% (+2.0 ppt). Growth partly reflects recovery from last year’s geopolitically affected base.

• Latin America: Demand up 7.2%; capacity up 8.2%; load factor 84.6% (-0.8 ppt).

• Africa: Demand up 7.3%; capacity up 5.3%; load factor 74.1% (+1.4 ppt).

Source: IATA