US remains world's biggest air travel market, but growth slows

The US remained the world's largest air passenger market in 2025, but it recorded the slowest growth among the world's top 10 markets, new industry data showed on Thursday.

A total 890.1 million passengers took off or landed in the US last year, a rise of just 1.6 percent over 2024, industry body IATA said.

By contrast, China - the second-biggest market - notched up growth of 4.8% to 776.1 million passengers.


According to a range of different forecasts, China is projected to become the world's biggest air passenger market in the 2030s. Airbus, for example, estimates that the market for domestic flights in China will dwarf the US market by around one third by 2045.