in % of IATA Scheduled Passengers.

Source: IATA, World Air Transport Statistics.

Major Air Traffic Flows Between Regions, 2000

The great majority (74.6%) of air traffic flows (1.4 billion passengers) occurs within three regions, North America (35.5%), Europe (23.2%) and Asia (15.9%). Air traffic thus dominantly takes place on east-west axis over the Northern Hemisphere with other continents, such as South America, Africa and the pacific Southwest accounting for a residual function of feeders. The most important intercontinental routes link the most economically active regions of the world and include Europe - North America (3.9%), Europe - Asia (1.9%) and Asia - North America (1.7%). All these routes have a balanced passengers traffic as almost the same amount of passengers goes in one direction than the other. The main international routes are:

• North Atlantic route. Represents the most intensively used air route in the world. It accounts for 27% of the tons-km transported while the inside of the United States justifies 12% of the international traffic.
• Intra-Europe. Handles 9% of the international traffic, but because of geographical considerations, most international movements in Europe have a regional scale. For instance, although a flight between Paris and London is considered as international, it is barely longer than a Boston-New York regional air shuttle service which is counted as a national flight.
• Trans-Pacific route. Very important with 14% of the global traffic. The strong growth rates of the regional economy have induced a strong growth of air traffic. It is notably the case for the traffic that origins from Japan, event linked with the relocation of the Japanese economy within the Pacific-Asian space. Although the 1997-98 financial and economic crisis in Pacific Asia involved a negative impact on regional air traffic, the region has since then recovered and expanded.
• Intra-Asia. Accounts for 9% of the global traffic, a share which will grow during the next decades. For instance, domestic air services in China represent an enormous potential market with the emergence of regional airline companies.
• The remaining international lines are Europe towards the Middle East (5%) and of Europe towards the Far East (10%).