Total demand, measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), declined by 0.5% year-on-year. Meanwhile, capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASK), decreased by 0.2%. The passenger load factor reached 83.2%, down 0.3 percentage points from September 2025.
International and domestic passenger demand
International air passenger demand increased by 0.4% compared with September 2025. Excluding the Middle East, growth reached 1.7%. International capacity rose by 0.5%, while the load factor stood at 83.6%. This represented a decrease of 0.1 percentage points year-on-year.
Domestic demand, however, declined by 2.2%. Capacity fell by 1.3%, and the load factor reached 82.5%. This marked a year-on-year decrease of 0.7 percentage points.
Air Passenger Market in Detail
| September 2026 (% year-on-year) | World Share1 | RPK | ASK | PLF(%-PT)2 | PLF(Level)3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total Market | 100% | -0.5% | -0.2% | -0.3 | 83.2% |
Africa | 2.2% | 5.0% | 7.7% | -1.9 | 73.5% |
Asia-Pacific | 34.4% | 0.5% | 0.1% | 0.3 | 83.4% |
Europe | 26.7% | 0.3% | -0.1% | 0.3 | 86.6% |
Latin America and the Caribbean | 5.4% | 4.3% | 5.1% | -0.6 | 82.9% |
Middle East | 9.5% | -8.0% | -3.8% | -3.6 | 78.2% |
North America | 21.8% | -1.6% | -1.3% | -0.2 | 81.8% |
1) % of industry RPK in 2025 2) Year-on-year change in load factor 3) Load Factor Level
Marie Owens Thomsen, IATA’s Senior Vice President Sustainability, and Chief Economist, said: “Air traffic demand fell 0.5% in September, reflecting weaknesses in the Middle East and North America. Nevertheless, this was an improvement from August, with a welcome return to growth in most international markets. These patterns have more-or-less repeated themselves throughout much of the year, and we can expect this to continue amid geopolitical uncertainty and volatile fuel prices. Global scheduled seat capacity is expected to remain above 2025 levels in October and November, but the rates of growth remain weak and highly unbalanced between regions”.
Thomsen highlighted geopolitical uncertainty and volatile fuel prices as continuing challenges. She also noted that scheduled global seat capacity should remain above 2025 levels in October and November. However, regional growth rates remain weak and uneven.
Regional performance across international markets
International RPK increased by 0.4%, while capacity grew by 0.5%. Furthermore, most major international routes improved compared with August. Some markets returned to growth, while others recorded slower declines.
| September 2026 (% year-on-year) | World Share1 | RPK | ASK | PLF(%-PT)2 | PLF(LEVEL)3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Domestic | 37.2% | -2.2% | -1.3% | -0.7 | 82.5% |
Domestic Australia | 0.8% | 4.5% | -0.9% | 4.5 | 86.5% |
Domestic Brazil | 1.2% | 2.0% | 7.1% | -4.0 | 80.2% |
Domestic China P.R. | 11.3% | 3.1% | 3.2% | -0.1 | 84.1% |
Domestic India | 1.7% | -8.3% | -7.9% | -0.3 | 81.0% |
Domestic Japan | 1.0% | -0.8% | -0.2% | -0.5 | 85.5% |
Domestic United States | 13.6% | -2.7% | -1.0% | -1.4 | 79.8% |
1) % of industry RPK in 2025 2) Year-on-year change in load factor 3) Load Factor Level
- Asia-Pacific airlines recorded a 0.7% year-on-year increase in demand. Capacity rose by 0.4%, and the load factor reached 83.1%. This represented an improvement of 0.3 percentage points. Traffic increased across four of the six largest international route areas serving Asia-Pacific. However, routes within Asia recorded a 0.9% decline. This contraction was smaller than August’s decrease.
- European carriers reported demand growth of 1.8%. Capacity increased by 1.2%, while the load factor reached 86.1%. This represented a year-on-year improvement of 0.5 percentage points. Meanwhile, transatlantic traffic declined by 0.6%. This marked a significant improvement from August, when the corridor recorded a 2.5% contraction.
- North American carriers recorded unchanged demand, with year-on-year growth of 0.0%. Capacity decreased by 1.9%, while the load factor reached 84.9%. This represented an increase of 1.6 percentage points. Traffic declined across three of the four largest international route areas serving North America. Nevertheless, these decreases were less severe than in August.
- Middle Eastern carriers experienced the sharpest regional contraction. Demand fell by 7.5% year-on-year, while capacity decreased by 3.3%. The load factor stood at 78.3%, down 3.6 percentage points. Traffic between the Middle East and Asia declined by 8.8%. This represented a deeper contraction than August’s 7.9% decrease. By contrast, traffic between the Middle East and North America fell by 3.0%. This marked a slightly smaller decline than the previous month.
- Latin American airlines recorded demand growth of 8.2% year-on-year. Capacity increased by 7.6%, while the load factor reached 83.9%. This represented an improvement of 0.5 percentage points.
- African airlines also recorded strong growth. Demand increased by 8.0%, while capacity rose by 8.8%. However, the load factor decreased by 0.6 percentage points to 74.8%.
Domestic markets record uneven performance
Domestic air passenger demand declined by 2.2% in September 2026 compared with September 2025. However, several markets demonstrated resilience. Australia, Brazil and China maintained stronger performance.
By contrast, continuing weakness in the United States weighed on global domestic demand. US traffic declined by 2.7%. IATA noted that subdued consumer confidence may have affected demand.
- India recorded its steepest domestic demand decline of the year. Traffic fell by 8.3% compared with September 2025.
- Japan also experienced a contraction, with domestic traffic decreasing by 0.8%. Weather-related flight disruptions partly affected travel during September’s Silver Week period.
The September figures highlight contrasting conditions across international and domestic aviation markets. While most international regions showed improvement, domestic demand continued to face pressure. Meanwhile, Middle Eastern and North American weaknesses remained significant factors in overall performance.
Tags: Marie Owens Thomsen, IATA
