China, US, India to Rule Air Passenger Market By 2034

India will become the third largest global air passenger market behind China and the US by 2034 with a total of 367 million passengers from the present 101 million annual passengers, according to International Air Transport Association (IATA).

India, the world's ninth-largest market at the moment, will overtake UK for the third spot while Japan will be relegated to India’s position with a minimum growth of 1.3 per cent growth by 2034.

China is set to overtake the US as the world’s top global air passenger market by 2034 with 1.3 billion passengers ( From 856 million from now) with an average annual growth rate of 5.5 per cent, IATA said.

Traffic to, from and within the US is expected to generate an average annual growth rate of 3.2 per cent that will see 1.2 billion passengers by 2034 — 559 million more than in 2014. 

China's growing dominance in the world's air travel market is a highlight of IATA's first 20-year passenger growth forecast.

The airline industry body foresees the world's air passengers soaring to 7.3 billion by 2034, more than double the 3.3 billion passengers expected to travel this year, or 4.1 per cent growth a year. The US will remain the world's largest air passenger market until around 2030. Cumulatively over the next 20 years, the US will carry 18.3 billion more passengers and China 16.9 billion, said the report.