Major Air Traffic Flows Between Regions, 2000

in % of IATA Scheduled Passengers.

Source: IATA, World Air Transport Statistics.

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%).

Copyright © 1998-2008, Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue, Dept. of Economics & Geography, Hofstra University. For personal or classroom use ONLY. This material (including graphics) is not public domain and cannot be published, in whole or in part, in ANY form (printed or electronic) and on any media without consent. Permission MUST be requested prior to use.