“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. 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,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.
Regionally, Africa saw demand rise just 0.8%, with a load factor of 74.6%. Asia Pacific recorded a stronger performance with a demand increase of 5%, and Europe reported a rise of 2.2%. Latin America had the highest regional growth at nearly eight percent but also experienced one of the largest drops in load factor at -1.3 percentage points.
The Middle East registered a slight contraction in traffic (-0.2%) as ongoing military conflict affected routes especially to North America and Europe; its regional load factor fell by -1.4 percentage points to reach just above seventy-eight percent.
In terms of international markets specifically, Asia-Pacific airlines achieved notable growth with a year-on-year increase of seven point two percent in demand and an almost steady load factor at eighty-two point nine percent (-0.2 ppt). European carriers saw an increase in both demand (2.8%) and capacity (3.3%), but their load factor slipped slightly to eighty-seven point four percent (-0.4 ppt). North American carriers experienced a small decline in international traffic (-0.3%), while their capacity rose (2.2%) and their average seat occupancy decreased more sharply (-2.2 ppt).
Latin American airlines continued strong momentum internationally with traffic up nine point three percent; however, this was outpaced by an eleven point eight percent rise in available seats leading to lower occupancy rates overall.
African airlines posted marginal declines both in traffic (-0.3%) and improved slightly on capacity (+0.3%), resulting again in lower seat utilization rates than last year.
On domestic routes worldwide, revenue passenger kilometers were up one point six percent versus June last year; Brazil led major markets with eighteen point three percent growth thanks to robust local conditions while China’s domestic market also expanded strongly at seven point four percent annualized growth.
The United States domestic market showed only minimal expansion after several months without significant gains; India’s domestic market grew moderately but saw its average seat occupancy drop significantly due to higher capacity increases outpacing demand.
According to IATA’s breakdowns for key countries: Australia posted modest gains; Japan saw five point eight percent more passengers on home routes; Brazil outperformed all others among large domestic markets; China maintained solid momentum despite slowing global trends.
A full analysis can be found on IATA's website: June 2025 Air Passenger Market Analysis.
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