The most-used airliners in the world last year were Boeing and Airbus single-aisle (or narrowbody) types, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has reported, in the latest edition of its World Air Transport Statistics (WATS) report. IATA is the global representative body for the airline industry.

All versions of the Boeing 737 achieved a combined total of 10-million flights in 2024. This was a 6% increase, year-on-year (y-o-y). These flights provided a total passenger carrying capacity of 2 442-billion available seat kilometres (ASKs – which is the number of passenger seats on an airliner multiplied by the number of kilometres it has flown), which was a 9.5% increase, y-o-y.

While Airbus groups its Airbus A319, A320, and A321 airliners together as the A320-family, IATA separated them out, in its analysis. But while Airbus distinguished between the original-generation versions of the family and the next generation new engine option (neo) models, IATA did not. (There is no neo version of the A319.)

The A319 is the smallest of the three types, and accrued 1.4-million flights last year, which was a decline of -6%, y-o-y. It provided ASKs totalling 204.2-billion, again a y-o-y decrease, of -4.9%. The A320 and A320neo were the base models of the family; together, they operated 7.9-million flights, a y-o-y increase of 4.8%. They provided a total of 1 705.7-billion ASKs, which was 6% up on 2023. The A321/A321neo were the largest members of the family. Combined, they flew 3.4-million commercial flights, which was a 10.1% rise, y-o-y. They supplied 1 124.1-billion ASKs, a 12.5% increase.

IATA also listed Airbus’ smallest type, the A220, but did not distinguish between the A220-100 and the A220-300. Together, both these models achieved 411 543 flights last year, which was a y-o-y rise of 21.7%. They provided 66.6-billion ASKs, which was 20.4% up on the year before.

Regarding airports, nine of the world’s busiest airport pairs last year were in Asia. One (Jeddah-Riyadh) was in the Middle East. The top ten airport pairs in 2024 were Jeju-Seoul Gimpo (13.2-million passengers), Sapporo-Tokyo Haneda (9.2-million passengers), Fukuoka-Tokyo Haneda (9-million passengers), Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City (8-million passengers), Melbourne Tullamarine-Sydney (7.2-million passengers), Jeddah-Riyadh (6.3-million passengers), Mumbai-Delhi (5.9-million passengers), Tokyo Haneda-Okinawa (5.6-million passengers), Shanghai Hongqiao-Shenzhen (5.3-million), and Beijing Capital-Shanghai Hongqiao (also 5.3-million passengers).

The busiest airport pair in Africa, with 3.3-million passengers last year, was Cape Town-Johannesburg. Its counterpart in Latin America was Bogota-Medellin (3.8-million passengers). The busiest airport pair in North America was New York John F Kennedy-Los Angeles (2.2-million passengers), and in Europe, it was Barcelona-Palma de Mallorca (2-million passengers).