Global air carrier market - share of ASMs by region 2018
Available seat miles
Available seat miles (ASM) is a measure of carrying capacity created by multiplying the number of seats available for sale on an aircraft by the number of miles flown. For example, a flight with 250 seats flying 1,000 miles generates 250,000 ASMs. In every year since 2009, the total number of flights and passengers transported globally has increased.
Air travel in the Asia Pacific region
The fact that the Asia/Oceania region has the largest air travel market is likely not surprising given the region’s massive population. The region is home to seven of the world’s ten business domestic air routes, and eight of the ten busiest international flight routes (all of which are intra-regional). What may be surprising though is that this does not translate into higher levels of passenger traffic at the region’s airports. Less than half of the world’s 15 busiest airports in 2018 were in the Asia/Oceania region.