The statistic represents global revenue generated by commercial airlines from passenger travel in air traffic from 2004 to 2018. Worldwide, commercial airlines' passengers air traffic revenue came to around 534 billion U.S. dollars in 2017.
Worldwide revenue with passengers in air traffic
The year 2009 heralded an era of prosperity for the commercial aviation industry. Between 2009 and 2017, air passenger revenue in the global aviation industry grew from about 374 billion U.S. dollars to around 534 billion U.S. dollars in 2017. Aviation demand is set to be fuelled by a growing customer base in emerging markets. Consequently, the air traffic industry is forecast to add passenger revenue streams, with the largest chunk coming from activities in Latin America, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. In the Middle East, revenue passenger kilometers are set to grow by 5.6 percent between 2017 and 2036. Based on passenger traffic, Dubai International Airport (IATA: DXB, ICAO: OMDB) was the world’s third busiest airport in 2017.
Although not often feted for its innovative excellence, the aviation industry has seen a couple of major changes over the past decade, including consolidation, as well as the emergence of regional and (ultra) low-cost carriers. While Ryanair and Southwest Airlines are the main carriers in the low-cost category, several new players, such as Iceland’s WOW Air, are on the horizon. As of June 2014, the airline Firefly, a subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines, was the cheapest airline in the world.
