Global total air passenger traffic in November last year passed 99% of the figure for November 2019, which was the last November before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, reports the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Total air passenger traffic in November was up 29.7%, year-on-year, and reached 99.1% of the figure for November 2019. International air passenger traffic rose 26.4%, year-on-year, and was 94.5% of its November 2019 level. Domestic air passenger traffic jumped 34.8%, year-on-year, and was 6.7% higher than its level in November 2019.

“We are moving ever closer to surpassing the 2019 peak year for air travel,” affirmed IATA director-general Willie Walsh. “Economic headwinds are not deterring people from taking to the skies. International travel remains 5.5% below prepandemic levels but that gap is rapidly closing. And domestic markets have been above their prepandemic levels continuously since April.”

The IATA region that saw the greatest year-on-year increase in total passenger traffic was Asia-Pacific, at 80.1%. The second-fastest growing region was Africa, at 20.3%. Then followed the Middle East (18.7%), Europe (13.6%), Latin America (12%) and North America (10.2%).

Regarding international air passenger traffic, the order was slightly different. Asia-Pacific was again ranked first, with a jump of 63.8%, and Africa was again second, at 22.1%. But third place was taken by Latin America (20%), followed by the Middle East (18.6%), Europe (14.8%) and North America (14.3%).

When it came to domestic air passenger traffic, IATA regularly monitored six major markets: Australia, Brazil, China, India, Japan, and the US. Of these, China recorded by far the greatest y-o-y increase in November – a massive 272%. IATA credited this to the recovery of the Chinese market from Covid restrictions that had still been in place in November 2022.