Air passenger numbers worldwide reached a new high, surpassing 4 billion in a 12-month period for the first time.
That finding comes from a report by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which identifies 2017 as a record year for air travel. IATA attributes the growth to stronger global economic conditions and generally lower airfares.
Airlines carried 4.1 billion passengers in 2017, a 7.3 percent rise compared with 2016, adding roughly 280 million additional passenger journeys. The expansion also reflects a surge in connectivity: carriers served more than 20,000 city pairs during the year, more than double the number of available connections in 1995.
“Increases in direct services boost the industry’s efficiency by cutting costs and saving time for both travelers and shippers,” IATA said in its statement.
The report further indicates that U.S. travelers were the world’s most frequent flyers, with about 632 million Americans taking commercial flights in 2017, representing 18.6 percent of global air passengers. China ranked second, with approximately 555 million passengers, or 16.3 percent of the total.