When the skies changed hands

Chinese carriers transported 417 million passengers that year; US carriers carried 370 million. Both figures fell sharply as the pandemic disrupted air travel, but the American total fell further.

By 2023, US airlines were back on top with 942 million passengers, ahead of China’s 619 million. That is a lead of about one and a half to one, a far smaller gap than in 2000, when the totals were 665 million and 62 million.

A shock, then different recoveries

In 2019, US carriers carried 927 million passengers and Chinese carriers 660 million. The US returned to first place in 2021. By 2023, its total was slightly above the 2019 level; China’s was still below its own pre-pandemic figure.

Others moved too. Ireland rose from eighth among these ten in 2000 to third in 2023, while India moved from seventh to fourth. These are ranks within the fixed group shown, rather than a reconstruction of every country that appeared in each year’s global top ten.

Whose passengers are counted?

The figures cover domestic and international passengers carried by airlines registered in each country. They do not measure the nationality of travellers or the number of people using airports in that country. Ireland’s position, for example, reflects airlines registered there and their international networks; it should not be read as the size of the Irish population’s air travel.

The sky did not simply return to its old shape. The US lead survived, but China’s growth made the distance between the two far smaller than it had been at the beginning of the century.