Global Air Passenger Demand Sees 0.2% Increase in July

In July 2026, global air passenger demand increased by 0.2% year-on-year, as reported by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Excluding the Middle East, total demand, measured in revenue passenger kilometres, rose by 1.2% compared to July 2025.

Total capacity, measured in available seat kilometres, increased by 0.3%, while the passenger load factor decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 85.2%. International passenger demand fell by 0.1%, with international capacity also increasing by 0.3% and the load factor declining by 0.3 percentage points to 85.2%.

Domestic demand showed a slight improvement, growing by 0.6%, with capacity increasing by 0.2% and the load factor rising by 0.3 percentage points to 85.3%. Marie Owens Thomsen, IATA's senior vice president for sustainability and chief economist, described the peak Northern summer travel season as “a mostly positive story for air travel,” despite declines in North America and the Middle East.

She noted that airlines remain confident in demand for the latter part of the year.