• Industry-wide Revenue Passenger Kilometers (RPK) expanded by 3.8% year-on-year (YoY) in January, down from 5.8% in December.
• The industry‑wide passenger load factor (PLF) reached a record high for the month of January at 82.0%. Both international and domestic segments also saw their highest January PLF on record.
• Regions showed a mixed performance in total passenger traffic compared to December. Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and North America accelerated, while other regions experienced a slowdown. Asia Pacific growth, in particular, was affected by differences in the Lunar New Year timing.
• Domestic traffic stagnated in January, with RPK up 0.1% YoY. Performance varied across major markets, while the industry load factor edged up to 81.2%. • International traffic expanded by 5.9% YoY, with all regions recording positive growth.
• Global scheduled seats are projected to grow by 5.2% YoY in February, the fastest since April 2024. Reduced traffic growth in January Global passenger traffic increased by 3.8% YoY in January, slowing by two percentage points from the 5.8% growth recorded in December and marking the weakest monthly expansion since June 2025.
This moderation partly reflects the timing of the Lunar New Year, which fell in February this year, compared with January in 2025. Industry‑wide RPK reached 774 billion during the month (Chart 1). On a seasonally adjusted basis, RPK was 3.7% higher than in January 2025 but declined marginally by 0.1% compared with December 2025. Industry‑wide capacity, measured in available seat kilometers (ASK), rose by 3.5% YoY in January.
As capacity growth lagged the increase in demand, the PLF improved by 0.2 percentage points YoY, reaching 82.0%. This represents a record high for the month of January.
Tags: IATA
