IATA data shows demand for air travel rose in March, but load factors dipped
May 1, 2025
The latest data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reveals a modest increase in air travel (3.3%) during March 2025 compared to the same period last year, despite a slight decline in overall load factors.
According to IATA, the global demand for air travel was outpaced by a 5.3% increase in capacity, which resulted in a systemwide load factor of 80.7% – a decline of 1.6% year-on-year.
Demand for international travel saw stronger gains than domestic markets. For international travel, overall demand was up 4.9% and capacity increased 7% while the international load factor dropped by 1.7% to 79.9%. Domestic demand rose 0.9% and capacity was up 2.5%. The load factor for domestic flights fell by 1.3% to 82.%.
Commenting on the data for March, Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General, acknowledged concerns about potential economic headwinds, including tariffs that could impact travel in the coming months. “While the small decline in demand in North America needs to be watched carefully, March numbers continued to show a global patter of growth for air travel. That means the challenges associated with accommodating more people who need to travel – specifically alleviating supply chain problems and ensuring sufficient airport and air traffic management capacity – remain urgent.”
Looking at the breakdown of international passenger markets by region, IATA’s data shows that Asia-Pacific airlines reported the highest year-on-year increase in demand for March at 9.9%. Latin American carriers followed with a 7.7% year-on-year increase in demand, followed by European carriers (4.9%) and African airlines (3.3%). North American carriers saw a -0.1% fall in demand year-on-year for March, but this figure reflected an improvement on the -1.5% decline reported for February. Meanwhile, Middle Eastern carriers saw a -1% year-on-year decline, which was likely related to the timing of Ramadan impacting travel patterns, according to IATA .
Domestic air travel saw a marginal 0.9% gain in passenger demand with Brazil and India reporting the strongest growth at 8.9% and 11% respectively. Australia saw a -1.2% decline and the US reported a -1.7% decline.
