Air travel demand has continued its upward trend in 2024, with a significant increase in international trips leading the charge. This development is highlighted in a recent report by CNBC, published on January 2, 2025, which discusses punctuality rankings among airlines globally.
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According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), revenue-passenger miles, a key demand metric, rose nearly 11% from January to October this year compared to the same period last year. This boost in demand came as airlines scrambled to add flights and increase premium seating to capitalize on higher revenue, especially for long-haul trips. Despite facing challenges such as shortages of new aircraft and financial difficulties, many airlines managed to avoid the severe disruptions seen in previous years during the pandemic-related staffing shortages.
Looking forward, IATA projects that aircraft departures will hit 40 million in 2025, marking a 4.6% increase from 2024 figures. According to data from the IndexBox platform, this growth in air travel demand is consistent with market trends showing a steady rise in international flight capacities and improved services.
Meanwhile, lively competition persists among airlines to enhance punctuality. Cirium’s recent punctuality ranking revealed that Delta Air Lines led North America in terms of on-time performance, a remarkable feat given the challenges, such as the CrowdStrike outage in July that resulted in thousands of flight cancellations.