The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released global passenger demand data for April 2026, revealing that a severe downturn in the Middle East—coupled with doubling jet fuel prices—has dragged overall global traffic into negative territory, despite growth in most other regions.
Global passenger demand, measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK), fell -3.4% compared to April 2025. However, this drop was entirely localized; excluding the Middle East, global air travel demand actually grew by 1.2%. Total industry capacity, measured in available seat kilometers (ASK), decreased -2.9% year-on-year, while the global passenger load factor (PLF) softened slightly to 83.1% (-0.4 percentage points).
“The 46.6% fall in demand for carriers in the Middle East due to war in the region was so acute that it dragged overall demand down -3.4%,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General. “The situation for air transport remains highly volatile. The cost of jet fuel more than doubled in April, which is pushing airfares up. Forward schedule data is showing a reduced offering in the coming months, indicating that airlines are balancing high fuel costs and weaker demand.”
| Region | Demand Growth (RPK YoY) | Capacity Growth (ASK YoY) | Load Factor (Level) | Load Factor Change (ppt YoY) |
| Total Market | -3.4% | -2.9% | 83.1% | -0.4 pt |
| Latin America & Caribbean | +5.0% | +4.3% | 82.9% | +0.5 pt |
| Africa | +2.8% | +2.0% | 77.7% | +0.6 pt |
| Asia-Pacific | +1.7% | +0.7% | 85.1% | +0.9 pt |
| Europe | +0.8% | +0.4% | 85.4% | +0.4 pt |
| North America | -0.3% | +0.3% | 81.5% | -0.5 pt |
| Middle East | -46.6% | -37.2% | 70.6% | -12.5 pt |
International RPKs fell -5.3% year-on-year, though stripping out the Middle East reveals an underlying international growth rate of 1.9%.
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Middle East: Carriers experienced a massive -48.1% collapse in international demand. Capacity contracted by -38.4%, and the load factor plunged 13.1 percentage points to 70.1%. Traffic continued to be heavily impacted by the ongoing Iran war, though an uneasy ceasefire provided a slight stabilization compared to March.
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Latin America: Led global growth with a robust 8.9% surge in international demand. Capacity rose 7.2%, driving load factors up to 84.6%.
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Asia-Pacific: Airlines recorded a 3.0% traffic increase, achieving a record April load factor of 87.5% (+1.9 ppt). Growth was achieved despite a notable traffic slowdown on the Japan-China corridor stemming from political tensions.
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Europe: Posted a modest 0.9% increase in demand. Crucially, direct traffic between Europe and Asia surged 15.3% as passengers shifted to direct routes to bypass transiting through the war-torn Middle East.
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Africa & North America: African airlines maintained steady growth with demand up 2.2%. North American international traffic was entirely flat (0.0%) year-on-year, though a capacity reduction of -1.1% managed to lift its load factor to 83.9%.
Global domestic traffic was completely flat compared to April 2025. Market performance was starkly divided: solid domestic growth in Brazil, China, and Japan was entirely neutralized by sharp contractions in Australia, India, and the United States. Passenger load factors dropped across the majority of key domestic landscapes, with China and Japan standing out as the only major exceptions. Notably, Japanese airlines saw rising load factors primarily due to a supply squeeze, marking eight consecutive months of domestic capacity cuts.
