The World of Air Transport in 2019
Despite the exceptional circumstances faced by the aviation industry and ICAO during the data collection and collation period, data officially provided by ICAO Member States reflects 97% of the data reported here, with the remainder calculated according to ICAO’s methodology.
According to ICAO’s preliminary compilation of annual global statistics, the total number of passengers carried on scheduled services rose to
4.5 billion in 2019, which is 3.6 per cent higher than the previous year, while the number of departures reached
38.3 million in 2019, a 1.7 per cent increase. Detailed air transport statistics appear on the Presentation of 2019 Air Transport Statistical Results page.
Passenger traffic (total scheduled revenue passenger-kilometres performed (RPKs))
Total increase: 4.9 per cent, equating to 8 686 billion RPKs
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Change by region – |
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| Europe: | 26.8 per cent of world traffic, posting growth of 6.6 per cent |
| Africa: | 2.1 per cent of world traffic, posting growth of 4.3 per cent |
| Middle East: | 9.1 per cent of world traffic, posting growth of 1.9 per cent |
| Asia and Pacific: | 34.7 per cent of world traffic, posting growth of 5.2 per cent |
| North America: | 22.2 per cent of world traffic, posting growth of 4.1 per cent |
| Latin America and Caribbean: | 5.1 per cent of world traffic, posting growth of 3.6 per cent |
More comprehensive air transport data are available at:
http://data.icao.int/newdataplus
International scheduled passenger traffic
Total growth: 4.7 per cent in RPKs
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Change by region: |
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| Europe: | 37.0 per cent of total RPK, posting growth of 6.3 per cent |
| Africa: | 2.8 per cent of total RPK, posting growth of 4.9 per cent |
| Middle East: | 13.8 per cent of total RPK, posting growth of 2.0 per cent |
| Asia and Pacific: | 30.2 per cent of total RPK, posting growth of 4.9 per cent |
| North America: | 12.0 per cent of total RPK, posting growth of 3.8 per cent |
| Latin America and Caribbean: | 4.2 per cent of total RPK, posting growth of 2.7 per cent |
Domestic scheduled passenger traffic
Total growth: 5.2 per cent in RPKs
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Change by region: | |
| Europe: | 9.3 per cent of total RPK, posting growth of 8.9 per cent |
| Africa: | 1.0 per cent of total RPK, posting growth of 1.6 per cent |
| Middle East: | 1.0 per cent of total RPK, posting growth of 0.2 per cent |
| Asia and Pacific: | 42.6 per cent of total RPK, posting growth of 5.6 per cent |
| North America: | 39.6 per cent of total RPK, posting growth of 4.3 per cent |
| Latin America and Caribbean: | 6.6 per cent of total RPK, posting growth of 4.7 per cent |
Low-cost Carriers
Low-cost carriers carried an estimated 1.4 billion passengers in 2019, which was approximately 31 per cent of the world total scheduled passengers. This indicated a 5.3 per cent growth when compared to the number of passengers carried by low-cost carriers in 2018, around 1.5 times the rate of the world total average passenger growth.
Available seat-kilometres (ASK) capacity
Total Growth: 4.1 per cent, passenger load factor of 82.4 per cent
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Change by region: | |
| Europe: | 26.0 per cent of total ASK, with passenger load factor of 85.0 per cent |
| Africa: | 2.4 per cent of total ASK, with passenger load factor of 72.4 per cent |
| Middle East: | 9.9 per cent of total ASK, with passenger load factor of 75.6 per cent |
| Asia and Pacific: | 35.1 per cent of total ASK, with passenger load factor of 81.7 per cent |
| North America: | 21.6 per cent of total ASK, with passenger load factor of 84.8 per cent |
| Latin America and Caribbean: | 5.1 per cent of total ASK, with passenger load factor of 82.1 per cent |
Freight traffic
Total tonnes carried: 57.6 million
| Decline of scheduled total freight traffic, expressed in terms of scheduled total freight tonne-kilometres performed (FTKs): -2.9 per cent | |
Decline of total scheduled
international freight traffic, expressed in terms of FTKs performed: -3.5 per cent
And by region -
| |
| Europe: | 26.8 per cent of total FTKs performed, posting a decline of -0.6 per cent |
| Africa: | 2.2 per cent of total FTKs performed, posting growth of 5.7 per cent |
| Middle East: | 15.9 per cent of total FTKs performed, posting a decline of -4.4 per cent |
| Asia and Pacific: | 38.2 per cent of total FTKs performed, posting a decline of -6.2 per cent |
| North America: | 14.0 per cent of total FTKs performed, posting a decline of -2.0 per cent |
| Latin America and Caribbean: | 2.8 per cent of total FTKs performed, posting a decline of -1.1 per cent |
Scheduled international freight capacity in 2019, expressed in available freight tonne-kilometres, was approximately 391 billion, a 6.8 per cent growth compared to 2018. The scheduled international freight load factor declined at 50 per cent.
Operating profit of scheduled airlines of Member States
Estimated at about 5.3 per cent of operating revenues, operating profits are expected to be around USD 45.0 billion in 2019 based on operating revenues of USD 841 billion.
A detailed variance analysis of changes in operating profits appears in the Presentation of 2019 Air Transport Statistical Results, Table 9.
Long-term air traffic forecasts
The 4.5 billion scheduled passengers carried in 2019 are expected to grow to about 10.0 billion by 2040, and the number of departures is projected to rise to some 90 million in 2040.
Aircraft
The world’s major manufacturers delivered 1 234 new commercial aircraft in 2019 and recorded 822 new aircraft net orders.
Book-to-bill ratios for two of the largest aircraft manufacturers decreased to around 0.66 in 2019 from 1.02 in the previous year.
Aviation safety
There were 115 aircraft accidents for scheduled commercial air transport operations in 2019, compared to 98 accidents in 2018. This is according to an analysis of global accident data involving commercial air transport aircraft with a maximum certificated take-off mass of more than 5 700 kilograms. The number of fatalities in scheduled operations worldwide stood at 239, resulting from 6 fatal accidents. The global accident rate was 3.0 accidents per million scheduled departures, versus 2.6 accidents per million scheduled departures in 2018.
Unlawful Interference
47 acts of unlawful interference were recorded. These included:
2 attacks on aircraft in flight
10 attacks on airports or other aviation facility
2 attacks using aircraft as a weapon
5 cyber-attacks endangering aviation safety
3 unlawful seizures of aircraft
and 25 other attacks.
Details concerning all 2019 events are available in the Acts of Unlawful Interference Database, which is accessible through ICAO’s secure website.
