It’s been obvious for the past two years that travel, and especially air travel, have come back in a big way, and final 2023 figures from the International Air Transport Association say that to all intents and purposes we’re back to pre-pandemic levels worldwide.
IATA’s data for 2023 give a figure of 94.1% of 2019’s record numbers, and an even higher 98.2% for the last quarter of the year. Overall, air traffic grew by an astonishing 36.9% in 2023 over 2022.
Broken down between domestic and international flights, international has recovered less completely, hitting 88.6% last year, but that is a growth of 41.6% over the previous year. By the fourth quarter, international hit 94.5%.
By regions, the figures differ quite a bit. Areas like Europe and the Americas, where traffic began regrowing earlier, showed less growth in 2023 than areas where the recovery was slower. For 2023, Europe and the Americas grew less than 30%, while Africa saw a 38.7% growth and the Asia-Pacific region grew 126.1%. That last figure reflects China’s and other areas slow return to service, only releasing many restrictions during 2023.
