A growing number of travelers worldwide are boarding planes in late summer, according to new data.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released a new report that shows total global air passenger demand was up by 4.6% in August 2025 compared to the same month in 2024.
The organization uses a metric called revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) to measure overall passenger demand.
Total capacity aboard airlines, which is also known as available seat kilometers (ASK) in industry parlance, also jumped by 4.5% in August.
Planes were also fuller that month compared to previous years. The load factor for August 2025 was an impressive 86%, an increase of a tenth of a percentage point over 2024 and a record-high number for the month.
“August year-on-year demand growth of 4.6% confirms that the 2025 peak northern summer travel season reached a new record high,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s director general. “Despite economic uncertainties and geopolitical tensions, the global growth trend shows no signs of abating, as October schedules are showing airlines planning 3.4% more capacity. Airlines are doing their best to meet travel demand by maximizing efficiency, making it even more critical for the aerospace manufacturing sector to sort out its supply chain challenges.”
Increases in passenger demand varied widely by region, with airlines based in the Asia-Pacific seeing significant growth of 9.8% more demand compared to August 2024. North American carriers, on the other hand, saw a meager increase of just 1.8% growth in passenger demand for August 2025, possibly due to ongoing economic challenges in the U.S.
The IATA report also broke down passenger demand numbers into international and domestic rates, both of which also increased compared to August 2024.
Passenger demand on international flights grew by 6.6% in August 2025 year-over-year, while available capacity jumped by 6.5%.
Domestic demand increased at a slower rate, just 1.5% year-over-year, however domestic flights were quite full, with the load factor clocking in at 86.3%, an increase of a tenth of a percentage point over 2024 and 0.3% higher than this year’s global average.
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