How many passengers do airlines carry worldwide each year?

World medium Data from 2024

Guess before you scroll — the answer is below

Answer in passengers. Shorthand like 9m or 1.2bn works.

The answer

4,900,000,000 passengers

Roughly 4.9B.

Global air travel finished recovering from the pandemic collapse in 2024, with airlines carrying close to 5 billion passenger journeys. That is not 5 billion different people: frequent flyers are counted on every leg. Roughly 100,000 commercial flights take off on an ordinary day.

Where this number comes from

Source International Air Transport Association (IATA)
Figure refers to 2024
Last checked
Unit passengers

Numbers move. If this one has drifted from its source, let us know.

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