Report. Photo: Shutterstock IATA Publishes Q3 Report.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released its latest chartbook, showing another quarter of steady, slightly slower momentum for airlines in Q3 2025.
Passenger demand grew 4.1% compared with last year, reaching 2.6 trillion revenue passenger kilometers (RPK), down from 5.3% in Q2, while capacity rose at a nearly identical pace. That small gap pushed the global load factor down a fraction, landing at 85%. International travel continued to lead the recovery, especially in economy cabins, while domestic markets lagged in most regions.
According to IATA, Asia Pacific once again carried much of the global growth. Traffic there rose 5.8%, helped by an 8.8% jump in international travel. Load factors improved as capacity increased at a slightly slower rate. Domestic results were mixed across the region. China, Japan. and Australia had solid quarters, while India slipped a bit. Europe contributed about a quarter of global growth, though its own load factor eased slightly as capacity outpaced demand.
The Middle East and Africa reported the fastest growth, with both regions increasing by 7.2%.
Middle Eastern airlines experienced a strong rebound in premium cabins, while African carriers achieved their highest load factor on record, despite the region still lagging behind global averages.
Latin America and the Caribbean posted another solid quarter, driven partly by Brazil’s double-digit domestic growth. Several European destinations, including Italy, Portugal, and Switzerland, continued to record higher numbers of travelers arriving from Latin America in the third quarter.
North America was the clear outlier, with overall demand up just 0.6% and domestic travel continuing to shrink.
Cargo activity had a stronger quarter than passenger traffic. Global demand grew 4.2%, the fastest pace this year, helped by shippers moving goods earlier than usual to avoid tariff uncertainty.
Asia Pacific and Africa posted the strongest cargo gains, while North America remained weak. Europe held steady, and the transatlantic corridor saw healthy growth. Capacity increased across most regions, and the global cargo load factor reached its highest level since early 2022.
Region by region, several patterns emerge. Africa experienced significant increases in passenger traffic, particularly on routes to the Middle East and Asia. Latin America’s strongest performance was on routes within Central and South America, while long-haul travel to Europe also increased. In the Asia Pacific, international routes within the region and to Africa, Europe, and the Middle East showed the most momentum.
Europe experienced balanced growth across most major corridors, although travel to Central America increased only slightly.
Overall, Q3 2025 delivered steady progress for both passenger and cargo markets, despite growth rates moderating and regional differences becoming more pronounced.