In 2023, the estimated number of scheduled passengers boarded by the global airline industry amounted to approximately 4.5 billion people. This represents a significant increase compared to the previous year since the pandemic started and the positive trend was forecast to continue in 2024, with the scheduled passenger volume reaching just below five billion travelers. Airline passenger traffic The number of scheduled passengers handled by the global airline industry has increased in all but one of the last decade. Scheduled passengers refer to the number of passengers who have booked a flight with a commercial airline. Excluded are passengers on charter flights, whereby an entire plane is booked by a private group. In 2023, the Asia Pacific region had the highest share of airline passenger traffic, accounting for one third of the global total.

Daily data showing UK flight numbers and rolling seven-day average, including flights to, from, and within the UK. These are official statistics in development. Source: EUROCONTROL.

Context

Public and school holidays have important impacts on population mobility and dynamics across multiple spatial and temporal scales, subsequently affecting the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases and many socioeconomic activities. However, worldwide data on public and school holidays for understanding their changes across regions and years have not been assembled into a single, open-source and multitemporal dataset. To address this gap, an open access archive of data on public and school holidays in 2010–2019 across the globe at daily, weekly, and monthly timescales was constructed. Airline passenger volumes across 90 countries from 2010 to 2018 were also assembled to illustrate the usage of the holiday data for understanding the changing spatiotemporal patterns of population movements.

Content

Geography: Global

Time period: 2010 - 2019

Unit of analysis: Global Holidays and Travel Data

Variables

monthly_passengers.csv

global_holidays.csv

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Jon Harmon for curating this dataset.

Dataset Repository

Passengers enplaned and deplaned at Canadian airports, annual.

India All Scheduled Airlines: Domestic: Number of Flight data was reported at 102,319.000 Unit in Mar 2025. This records an increase from the previous number of 92,291.000 Unit for Feb 2025. India All Scheduled Airlines: Domestic: Number of Flight data is updated monthly, averaging 48,100.000 Unit from Apr 2001 (Median) to Mar 2025, with 288 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 102,319.000 Unit in Mar 2025 and a record low of 188.000 Unit in Apr 2020. India All Scheduled Airlines: Domestic: Number of Flight data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Directorate General of Civil Aviation. The data is categorized under India Premium Database’s Transportation, Post and Telecom Sector – Table IN.TA019: Airline Statistics: All Scheduled Airlines.

The volume of air-freight transport in the United Arab Emirates was forecast to decrease between 2024 and 2029 by in total 0.02 billion ton-kilometers. This overall decrease does not happen continuously, notably not in 2026 and 2027. The volume of air-freight transport is estimated to amount to 14 billion ton-kilometers in 2029. As defined by Worldbank, air freight refers to the summated volume of freight, express and diplomatic bags carried across the various flight stages (from takeoff to the next landing). The forecast has been adjusted for the expected impact of COVID-19.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in more than 150 countries and regions worldwide. All input data are sourced from international institutions, national statistical offices, and trade associations. All data has been are processed to generate comparable datasets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).Find more key insights for the volume of air-freight transport in countries like Oman and Israel.

As a result of the continued annual growth in global air traffic passenger demand, the number of airplanes that were involved in accidents is on the increase. Although the United States is ranked among the 20 countries with the highest quality of air infrastructure, the U.S. reports the highest number of civil airliner accidents worldwide. 2020 was the year with more plane crashes victims, despite fewer flights The number of people killed in accidents involving large commercial aircraft has risen globally in 2020, even though the number of commercial flights performed last year dropped by 57 percent to 16.4 million. More than half of the total number of deaths were recorded in January 2020, when an Ukrainian plane was shot down in Iranian airspace, a tragedy that killed 176 people. The second fatal incident took place in May, when a Pakistani airliner crashed, killing 97 people. Changes in aviation safety In terms of fatal accidents, it seems that aviation safety experienced some decline on a couple of parameters. For example, there were 0.37 jet hull losses per one million flights in 2016. In 2017, passenger flights recorded the safest year in world history, with only 0.11 jet hull losses per one million flights. In 2020, the region with the highest hull loss rate was the Commonwealth of Independent States. These figures do not take into account accidents involving military, training, private, cargo and helicopter flights.

The international tourist departures in Iceland were forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 0.1 million departures (+17.86 percent). The number of depatures are estimated to amount to 0.67 million departures in 2029. According to Worldbank, international tourist departures can be defined as departures from the country of usual residence to any other country for any purpose other than work. The forecast has been adjusted for the expected impact of COVID-19.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in more than 150 countries and regions worldwide. All input data are sourced from international institutions, national statistical offices, and trade associations. All data has been are processed to generate comparable datasets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).Find more key insights for the international tourist departures in countries like Finland and Denmark.