Global passenger demand in February 2025 showed modest but important changes, according to recent data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Total demand, measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), increased by 2.6 per cent compared to the same month last year.

Meanwhile, capacity, reflected in available seat kilometres (ASK), rose by 2 per cent, leading to a load factor of 81.1 per cent, up by 0.4 percentage points from the previous year.

In the international sector, performance was stronger, with a 5.6 per cent increase in demand year-on-year.

This demand increase resulted in a 4.5 per cent rise in capacity, boosting the international load factor to 80.2 per cent, an improvement of 0.9 percentage points from February 2024.

On the domestic front, however, the situation was less positive. Demand fell by 1.9 per cent, with capacity decreasing by 1.7 per cent. Consequently, the domestic load factor decreased slightly by 0.2 percentage points to 82.6 per cent.

IATA’s Director General, Willie Walsh said that “While traffic growth slowed in February, much of this can be explained by factors including the leap year and lunar new year falling in January compared to February last year.”

Furthermore, he added, “February traffic hit an all-time high, and the number of scheduled flights is set to continue increasing in March and April.”

Additionally, he highlighted a specific area of concern. “We need to keep a close eye on developments in North America, which saw falls in both domestic and international traffic.”

Moreover, Walsh emphasised significant regulatory challenges facing the industry, particularly in relation to the recent disruptions at Heathrow.

He said, “The recent shut-down of Heathrow reminded us once again that the current passenger rights regime in place in Europe and the UK is not fit for purpose.”

“The annual costs of compensation, care, and assistance run into the billions. Thankfully, the Polish Presidency of the EU has recognised that this is a drag on European competitiveness and is progressing much-needed and long-anticipated reforms to EU261”, he continued.

He further criticised the limitations of these reforms, saying that “While many of the proposed reforms are sensible, the package stops short of a real solution.”

Walsh finally said that “Even with the reforms, EU261 will still target the airlines with penalties even if the root cause of delays is an infrastructure incident out of their control—like we saw at Heathrow. Over two decades of EU261 have not seen a reduction in delays because infrastructure providers have no incentive to improve their game.”

“Sadly, for European travellers, we are likely to see this play out again in this summer’s peak travel season. Genuine reform of EU261 must ensure that all parties responsible for delays have a stake in the consequences”, Walsh concluded.

Regionally, the data saw a diversity across the globe. In the Asia-Pacific region, carriers led with a robust 9.5 per cent increase in demand, with capacity rising by 8.3 per cent and consequently boosting the load factor to 85.7 per cent, up by 0.9 percentage points.

Closely following this, European airlines experienced a 5.7 per cent rise in demand alongside a 4.9 per cent capacity increase, culminating in a load factor of 75.5 per cent, a 0.5 percentage point increase.

Additionally, the Middle East also saw gains, with demand growing by 3.1 per cent and a modest capacity increase of 1.3 per cent leading to an enhanced load factor of 81.9 per cent, up by 1.4 percentage points.

Conversely, North American carriers faced a downturn, with a 1.5 per cent fall in demand and a 3.2 per cent reduction in capacity yet achieving a slight increase in load factor of 1.3 percentage points to 78.9 per cent.

Similarly, Latin America and Africa demonstrated resilience and growth. Latin American airlines saw a 6.7 per cent increase in demand, though their load factor slipped by 2.5 percentage points to 81.7 per cent despite a 9.9 per cent increase in capacity.

In contrast, African carriers reported a 6.7 per cent rise in demand coupled with a 4 per cent increase in capacity, leading to a 2-percentage point rise in load factor to 75.3 per cent.

The domestic air travel market showed varied performances across key regions. India experienced robust growth, with demand soaring by 13.2 per cent, thereby lifting the load factor to an impressive 90.3 per cent.

In contrast, China and the US faced declines.

Specifically, China’s domestic air travel dropped by 3.2 per cent, largely due to the Lunar New Year falling in January, disrupting typical travel trends.

Meanwhile, the US saw a 4.2 per cent decrease, primarily driven by falling consumer confidence which significantly affected travel decisions.