According to air connectivity data for 2024, Asia is rapidly advancing in the restoration of its international air connectivity network, demonstrating significant growth throughout the year.
The data indicates that the availability of international air seats in China has surged by 75.8% compared to the previous year, reaching a capacity of over 75.6 million seats in 2024. Meanwhile, Japan has experienced a growth of 35.1%, providing more than 60.8 million seats for outbound flights to international destinations.
This ranking is derived from the availability of seats on scheduled international, one-way, direct flights for the year 2024. Collectively, the total number of air seats from these ten countries represents 43% of the global outbound air seats during the analyzed twelve-month period.
The ranking includes five European nations—namely the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, France, and Italy—all of which are experiencing steady growth. Italy has increased its international flight seats by 13.7% in 2024, while Spain, positioned third in the ranking and serving as a crucial connectivity hub with Latin America, has seen an increase of 11.5% year-on-year. Germany occupies the fourth position with an 8.2% growth, followed by France, which has raised its international air seat availability by 5% since 2023.
It is important to highlight the significant roles of Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Turkey serves as a crucial connectivity hub linking Europe and Asia, experiencing an annual increase of 8.9% in outbound air seat availability. Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates reinforces its status as a connectivity center in the Middle East, ranking sixth with 85.6 million seats available for international flights and achieving a year-over-year growth of 10.2%.
The performance of airports in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries merits close observation, as 8% of the availability of international air seats is concentrated in outbound flights primarily from the United Arab Emirates, along with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain, despite the fact that not all of these markets experience uniform growth.
Data reveals that, in addition to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, with a year-on-year growth of 13% and nearly 31 million outbound international air seats, and Saudi Arabia, which has experienced an 11.8% year-on-year increase and boasts over 40.6 million outbound international air seats, are the leading markets in this region.
Bahrain also shows a positive trend with a 7.6% interannual growth.
Conversely, Oman maintains a stable position, while Kuwait has seen a decline in international air connectivity, resulting in a reduction of 1.6% in total outbound seats.