Kuala lumpur: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has reported an 11.8 per cent surge in international premium class travel – that’s business and first class – in 2024.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, the aviation body said the number outpaced the 11.5 per cent growth in global economy class travel, as per its latest World Air Transport Statistics (WATS) report. It noted that the Asia Pacific region led in terms of percentage growth, with a year-on-year (y-o-y) increase of 22.8 per cent, carrying 21 million premium passengers.

The report highlighted that although economy class passenger numbers grew by 28.6 per cent to 500.8 million, the growth in premium travel exceeded economy class travel in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America. IATA noted that Europe remained the largest market for international premium travel, with 39.3 million premium passengers, while premium travellers as a percentage of all travellers were highest in the Middle East at 14.7 per cent.

On the topic of the world’s busiest airport pairs, the association noted that the Asia Pacific region dominated the rankings, with Jeju-Seoul named the most popular route globally, carrying 13.2 million passengers in 2024. Meanwhile, IATA reported that aircraft from Boeing and Airbus were the most used in 2024. Boeing 737 aircraft (including all variants) flew 10 million flights with 2.4 trillion available seat kilometres (ASKs), followed by the Airbus A320 with 7.9 million flights and 1.7 trillion ASKs, and the Airbus A321 with 3.4 million flights and 1.1 trillion ASKs.

Furthermore, IATA highlighted that the United States remained the world’s largest aviation market with 876 million passengers in 2024, supported by its domestic market, which grew 5.2 per cent year-on-year. China was the second-largest passenger market, with 741 million passengers, representing an 18.7 per cent increase compared to 2023.