From Relax News and the IATA:
The US tops the list with 632 million passengers taking to the skies in 2017, representing 19 percent of global flyers, followed by China (555 million), India (161.5 million), the UK (147 million) and Germany (114 million).
Regionally, the results remain unchanged: airlines in the Asia-Pacific region carried the largest number of passengers in 2017, taking up 36 percent of the global market share with 1.5 billion passengers.
Based on my recent travels, I can see why this is true. The cheaper flights (under $1000) to Europe and Asia from the US are big incentives to travel. And we see large numbers of Chinese and Indian tourists in hot spots around the world.
And the regional statistics make sense, since the region is geographically conducive to air travel, and well serviced by several discount airlines, like Air Asia (many $19 flights). In fact, we will be using Air Asia on our inter Asia travels next month.
When it comes to the top five airlines by total number of passenger kilometers flown, US carriers dominate the ranking with American Airlines (324 million) leading the charts, followed by Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Emirates Airline and Southwest Airlines.
And the busiest international air routes for 2017 were once again air corridors in the Asia-Pacific region, led by Hong Kong and Taipei Taoyuan, followed by Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta and Singapore and Bangkok Suvarnabhumi and Hong Kong.
Now, I am not a fan of the big domestic air carriers. My favorite remains Alaska Air, followed by Hawaiian Airlines, though both offer rather limited routes by comparison. Emirates, along with Singapore are the top rated airlines internationally.
The Asian air corridors make total sense from both a business and leisure travel perspective. Many of our friends in SE Asia take frequent shopping and foodie trips to Singapore and Hong Kong, And Bangkok has become the most frequently visited city in the world!
In my own words, “Let’s Go!!!!!!!”
