Total global air passenger traffic fell by 0.5%, year-on-year, in September, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) – the global representative body for the airline industry – has reported. However, if the Middle East was excluded, total air traffic rose by 0.3%. International demand, including the Middle East, rose by 0.4% year-on-year, and by 1.7% excluding the Middle East. Domestic demand, however, dropped by 2.2% year-on-year.

Total global capacity declined -0.2% year-on-year in September, but international capacity went up by 0.5%. Domestic capacity went down by -1.3%. Regarding load factors, the total global load factor in September was 83.2%, which was a -0.3 percentage point (ppt) decrease, year-on-year; the international load factor was 83.6% (down -0.1 ppt) and the domestic load factor was 82.5% (a -0.7 ppt decrease).

“Air traffic demand fell 0.5% in September, reflecting weaknesses in the Middle East and North America. Nevertheless, this was an improvement from August, with a welcome return to growth in most international markets,” pointed out IATA senior VP sustainability and chief economist Marie Owens Thomsen. “These patterns have more-or-less repeated themselves throughout much of the year, and we can expect this to continue amid geopolitical uncertainty and volatile fuel prices. Global scheduled seat capacity is expected to remain above 2025 levels in October and November, but the rates of growth remain weak and highly unbalanced between regions.”

Of IATA’s six regions, the one that saw the strongest year-on-year growth in total passenger traffic in September was Africa, with 5%. Next came Latin America and the Caribbean, at 4.3%. The Asia-Pacific followed far behind, at 0.5%, with Europe next, at 0.3%. North America saw a year-on-year contraction of -1.6% and the Middle East a fall of -8%.

In terms of international passenger demand, Latin America and the Caribbean led, with a 8.2% year-on-year increase, followed by Africa, with 8%. Europe trailed behind, at 1.8%, and the Asia-Pacific in a distant fourth place, with only 0.7% year-on-year growth. North America saw 0% growth. Middle East demand dropped by -7.5%.

The six domestic air transport markets regularly monitored by IATA, and which together accounted for 79.4% of global domestic air travel (and 29.6% of total global air travel) were Australia, Brazil, China, India, Japan and the US. Of these, Australia saw the strongest year-on-year growth in demand in September, at 4.5%, followed by China (3.1%) and Brazil (2%). Japan saw a decline of -0.8%, while US demand fell by -2.7% and Indian demand dropped -8.3%.