Global airline capacity reaches 507.6 million seats, 4.7% increase year-over-year, propelled by strong growth in North America and Asia

Global scheduled airline capacity is forecast to reach 507.6 million seats in December 2025, marking a significant increase of 4.7% compared to December 2024, according to the latest market data from OAG. This growth represents an additional 22.8 million in seats compared to the same period last year.

The data reveals robust expansion across several key regions and markets, with American Airlines maintaining its status as the world’s largest carrier by flight frequency.

• Global Capacity Surge: The total number of seats has increased by 26 million compared to the previous month, confirming strong forward momentum in the sector.

• Largest Domestic Market: The USA remains the dominant domestic market globally with 88.2 million scheduled seats, outpacing the second-largest market, China (68.7 million seats), by 19.5 million.

• China’s Significant Growth: Despite being the second largest, China’s domestic market is projected to experience the largest volume increase among the Top 10, adding 4.5 million seats versus December 2024.

• Fastest Growing Market: Mexico leads all markets in growth rate, with seats increasing by 11.0% year-on-year.

• Largest International Route: The Mexico-USA country pair remains the world’s largest international market with 5.1 million scheduled seats.

The two regions driving the largest volume growth compared to last year are:

• North East Asia: Up 6.2 million seats.

• Western Europe: Up 3.8 million seats.

Central America is the strongest growth region overall among the IATA regions, recording a 9.0% year-on-year increase. However, the Caribbean stands out as the only region showing a decline, with capacity down 1.5% compared to last year—a continuing trend from the previous month.

American Airlines solidifies its position as the world’s largest airline by frequency, scheduling 190,285 flights. This figure is 7,828 more flights than in December 2024, representing the biggest frequency increase among the Top 20 global carriers.

Three major global carriers are reporting exceptional year-on-year frequency increases of over 10%: