Dubai, UAE — May 2026 —Global air passenger traffic fell 3.4 percent year-on-year in April, marking the first contraction since the post-pandemic recovery, as the ongoing conflict in Iran continued to devastate aviation across the Middle East.
According to the International Air Transport Association, industry-wide revenue passenger kilometers totalled 748 billion for the month, with the passenger load factor dropping to 83.1 percent.
Middle Eastern carriers bore the brunt of the crisis, seeing traffic collapse 46.6 percent, an improvement on March’s 59.2 percent plunge following a US-Iran ceasefire, but still among the steepest declines ever recorded for the region.
The damage rippled across global routes. Transatlantic traffic fell 2.8 percent, the Middle East–North America corridor lost more than half its passengers, and domestic markets stalled worldwide, with India down 2.9 percent and the US slipping 0.6 percent.
Not all regions suffered equally. Latin America and the Caribbean led the world with 5 percent growth, while Europe–Asia routes maintained strong double-digit expansion of 15.3 percent as passengers continued rerouting away from Middle Eastern hubs.
Looking ahead, IATA warned that a capacity recovery expected in May has failed to materialise, with seat numbers set to fall a further 1.1 percent before a fragile and uncertain return to modest growth in June.
