In this article, air travel demand continued to surge in 2024, driven by a rebound in international trips.
From January to October alone, revenue-passenger miles worldwide, a key demand indicator, increased by almost 11% compared to the previous year, as reported by the International Air Transport Association. For 2025, IATA predicts 40 million aircraft departures, a 4.6% rise from 2024.
Airlines rushed to add more flights and expand premium seating, which generates higher revenue, particularly on long-haul journeys. While some carriers faced challenges such as shortages of new aircraft and financial difficulties, many passengers experienced fewer flight disruptions compared to the acute staffing shortages seen post-pandemic.
According to a ranking released by Cirium on Thursday, the most punctual airlines were spread across the globe. Cirium, an aviation data firm, defines punctuality as an arrival within 15 minutes of the scheduled time. Despite its struggles to recover from the CrowdStrike outage in July that led to the cancellation of thousands of flights, Delta Air Lines ranked first among U.S. and Canadian airlines.
(Global carriers are defined as those serving at least three regions; On-time rate in parentheses)
