About 7.8 billion passengers will travel by air in 2036, nearly double the 4 billion expected to fly this year, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) says.
The projection, released Tuesday, is based on data included in an update of IATA’s “20-Year Air Passenger Forecast.”
“All indicators lead to growing demand for global connectivity,” said IATA Director General and CEO Alexandre de Juniac. “It’s fantastic news for innovation and prosperity, which is driven by air links. It is also a huge challenge for governments and industry to ensure we can successfully meet this essential demand.”
The projections call for the greatest growth in the Asia-Pacific region, which IATA said would provide more than half of all new passengers. Increased travel in China, coupled with slightly reduced growth in the United States, will make China the world’s largest aviation market (including traffic to, from and within the country) by 2022, the report said. The United St…
