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IATA says demand fell 0.5% in September amid softness in domestic markets
November 2nd 2026
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported demand for air travel, measured by revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), fell 0.5% in September compared with the same month in 2025. Read More » The airline lobby group’s monthly traffic report said growth in international RPKs rose 0.4% in the month, while domestic demand was down 2.2% year-on-year. IATA chief economist and senior vice president for sustainability, Marie Owens Thomsen, said the September data reflected weakness in the Middle East and North America, where RPKs fell 8% and 1.6%, respectively. The September figure also represented an improvement from the 0.8% fall in RPKs in August. "These patterns have more-or-less repeated themselves throughout much of the year, and we can expect this to continue amid geopolitical uncertainty and volatile fuel prices," Owens said. "Global scheduled seat capacity is expected to remain above 2025 levels in October and November, but the rates of growth remain weak and highly unbalanced between regions." Industry-wide capacity, or available seat kilometres, was cut by 0.2%, while passenger load factor decreased 0.3 of a percentage point to 83.2%. The IATA report said demand rose 0.5% in the Asia-Pacific region, while capacity edged 0.1% higher and passenger load factor climbed 0.3 of a percentage point to 83.3%. "Traffic increased on four of the six largest international route areas serving Asia-Pacific," IATA said. "On routes within Asia, traffic declined by 0.9%, though this was a slower rate of decline than in August."
