Long-haul travel is expanding within a record-sized global aviation market. In 2024, scheduled services carried 4.7 billion passengers worldwide, while international demand grew faster than domestic demand. The clearest distance-specific measure available for Europe is the 2,000-kilometre-and-over class, where extra-EU travel accounted for 80.5% of passengers.
These figures describe the market around long-haul journeys rather than a single universal category. Eurostat explicitly uses flights of 2,000 km or more as a long-distance class; the other figures below are labeled as international, total scheduled, airport, or survey measures. Airport totals therefore provide gateway context and are not long-haul-only counts.
Contents
- Global scale of air travel
- International demand and long-distance journeys
- What distance bands show in Europe
- Where international passenger traffic is concentrated
- European gateways for long-haul itineraries
- How passengers choose and book
- Airport processing and passenger preferences
Global scale of air travel
The ICAO Annual Report 2024 recorded 4.7 billion passengers carried on scheduled services worldwide in 2024. Scheduled-service passenger departures reached 37.4 million. Passenger volume increased 7.9% from 2023 to 2024, while departures increased 5.1%.
The traffic measure was even larger when distance traveled is included: global scheduled passenger traffic reached 9,098 billion revenue passenger-kilometres in 2024, up 10.6% from 2023. Revenue passenger-kilometres combine passenger numbers with the distance flown, making them useful context for long-haul demand. The ICAO figures cover scheduled revenue services and may be preliminary where stated.
IATA reported a closely aligned 10.4% rise in total full-year revenue passenger-kilometres for 2024 in its Global Air Passenger Demand Reaches Record High in 2024. The same IATA release recorded an 83.5% global passenger load factor for the full year. Together, these measures indicate both substantial traffic growth and heavily used available capacity, although neither measure isolates long-haul flights.
International demand and long-distance journeys
International air-traffic demand increased 13.6% in 2024, according to IATA, while international capacity increased 12.8%. Domestic full-year demand rose 5.7% over the same period. This makes international growth more than twice the domestic demand growth rate in percentage terms, although the figures describe different markets and do not identify a long-haul-only passenger count.
The year ended with continued momentum. In December 2024, total air-travel demand was 8.6% higher than in December 2023. International demand increased 10.6% year over year, compared with a 5.5% increase in domestic demand. The December global passenger load factor reached 84%.
The EU provides a direct view of how distance and border direction interact. Extra-EU transport represented 49.3% of EU air passenger transport in 2024. For EU flights of 2,000 km or more, extra-EU transport accounted for 80.5% of passengers, up from 78.3% in 2022. The 2,000-kilometre threshold is Eurostat’s explicit long-distance class, but it should not be treated as a universal definition used by every source.
What distance bands show in Europe
Eurostat’s distance bands show a clear shift in the balance between national, intra-EU, and extra-EU travel as journeys become longer. The following figures are passenger shares in 2024, not growth rates or counts.
| EU flight distance band | Largest reported transport category or split | Passenger share |
|---|---|---|
| Under 300 km | National transport | 74.3% |
| 300–499 km | National transport | 45.3% |
| 500–999 km | Intra-EU transport | 47.5% |
| 1,000–1,499 km | Intra-EU transport | 56.1% |
| 1,500–1,999 km | Intra-EU transport | 47.8% |
| 1,500–1,999 km | Extra-EU transport | 46.6% |
| 2,000 km or more | Extra-EU transport | 80.5% |
The Eurostat Air passenger transport statistics show that the under-300-kilometre band remained predominantly national, while intra-EU transport was the largest reported category in the 500–999 km and 1,000–1,499 km bands. At 1,500–1,999 km, intra-EU and extra-EU shares were both substantial: 47.8% and 46.6%, respectively. At 2,000 km or more, extra-EU travel dominated with 80.5%.
These bands are especially useful for interpreting “long haul” carefully. A 2,000-kilometre flight is long-distance under Eurostat’s classification, but the table does not tell us how many passengers flew intercontinental routes, how many took connecting flights, or how many journeys were leisure versus business travel.
Where international passenger traffic is concentrated
Regional data from ICAO shows that passenger traffic and passenger-kilometres do not have identical geographic patterns. Europe accounted for 26.2% of worldwide scheduled passenger traffic in 2024 and grew 8.9%. Asia and the Pacific accounted for 33.7% and grew 16.7%, while North America accounted for 22.6% and grew 4.9%.
The Middle East represented 9.8% of worldwide scheduled passenger traffic and grew 9.8%. Africa represented 2.2% and grew 10.0%. These shares concern worldwide scheduled passenger traffic, not international passengers only.
For total international scheduled passenger-kilometres, Europe accounted for 36.8% in 2024 and grew 9.5%. Asia and the Pacific accounted for 27.4% and grew 28.9%, while Africa accounted for 3.2% and grew 13.8%. The different shares illustrate why passenger counts and distance-weighted traffic should not be substituted for one another: long journeys contribute more passenger-kilometres than short ones.
European gateways for long-haul itineraries
Europe’s largest airports provide context for the gateways through which many international itineraries are organized. Eurostat recorded the following passenger totals in 2024:
- Paris Charles de Gaulle handled 70.3 million passengers, the highest total among EU airports.
- Amsterdam Schiphol handled 66.8 million passengers.
- Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas handled 66.1 million passengers.
- Frankfurt Main handled 61.5 million passengers.
- Barcelona El Prat handled 54.9 million passengers.
- Rome Fiumicino handled 46.7 million passengers.
- Munich handled 41.5 million passengers.
Amsterdam Schiphol also recorded about 456,000 passenger flights in 2024. These airport totals and flows include short-haul traffic as well as longer international services, so they are gateway indicators rather than counts of long-haul travelers.
The airport ranking also should not be read as a ranking of long-haul route networks. A large total can include extensive domestic, regional, or connecting traffic. For a traveler planning an international journey, the figures are best understood as evidence of the scale of Europe’s principal departure and transfer points.
How passengers choose and book
The 2024 IATA Global Passenger Survey Highlights describes the preferences of 13,487 surveyed air passengers. It is not a long-haul-only sample, but it helps explain how travelers approach airport selection and booking.
Airport location was a top-three reason for selecting a departure airport for 68% of surveyed passengers in 2024. Total travel time was a top-three reason for 33%, and fare price was a top-three reason for 25%. For long-distance itineraries, these measures point to three distinct planning considerations: access to the airport, the total time burden, and cost.
Online booking was the majority method for 72% of surveyed passengers. Among respondents, airline websites were the biggest online booking source for 37%, airline apps for 16%, online travel-agent websites for 9%, and price-comparison websites for 8%.
| Booking source | Share naming it the biggest online source |
|---|---|
| Airline websites | 37% |
| Airline apps | 16% |
| Online travel-agent websites | 9% |
| Price-comparison websites | 8% |
The categories are reported as survey responses and should not be added to create a market-share estimate. The 72% figure refers to passengers who booked the majority of their flights online, while each source percentage identifies the biggest online booking source for surveyed passengers.
Airport processing and passenger preferences
Payment preferences were led by debit or credit cards, preferred by 79% of surveyed air travelers in 2024. Digital wallets were among the preferred payment options for 20%. These are passenger preference measures, not transaction shares.
Time expectations at the airport varied with baggage and assistance needs. Among passengers traveling with carry-on baggage only, 72% wanted less than 30 minutes to reach the gate. Among passengers with carry-on and checked baggage, 76% wanted less than 45 minutes. Among passengers using mobility aids or special assistance, 79% wanted less than one hour.
Passengers also identified specific areas for improvement. Airport-security queuing was named by 37% of surveyed passengers, while efficient queuing at the gate was identified by 52%. Visa-before-travel was preferred by 86%.
For international travelers, these findings put the long-haul experience beyond the aircraft itself. The available evidence covers airport access, booking, payment, security, gate queues, and visa preparation, but it does not measure long-haul-only satisfaction or journey duration. The figures therefore support practical planning context while keeping the scope of the survey explicit.