Airports Council International (ACI) World has released its new World Airport Traffic Report (WATR), which states that global air travel is expected to reach 9.8 billion passengers by the end of 2025.
The annual report draws from data provided by more than 2,800 airports across over 185 countries and territories, with this year’s report highlighting international travel growth despite regional disparities and medium-term challenges.
Highlights of the report include a projection of a 3.7% growth in global passenger traffic Year-on-Year (YoY) from 2024, an expectation of international traffic growth of up to 5.3% in 2025 (compared to 2.4% for domestic traffic). And a mid-year increase in global passenger traffic by 2.1% YoY, an increase in international traffic by 4.9% YoY and a contraction of domestic traffic of 0.7% YoY.
The report states that passenger traffic is continuing to grow ‘unevenly’ across regions, reflecting a ‘mix of structural strengths, policy changes, and evolving travel patterns’, with emerging markets such as in Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Latin America all driving growth.
