In 2025 the airline industry's net profits hit an all-time high of nearly $40bn globally, according to IATA, far exceeding 2019's pre-pandemic total of $26bn. In 2024 the world's carriers flew 4.8bn passengers, cruising past the previous peak reached in 2019; in 2025 that figure probably reached 5bn. Combined revenues exceeded $1trn for the first time. Load factors (a measure of seats filled) hit a record, averaging nearly 84%.
Despite these records, the industry eked out only a meagre net margin of 4%, equivalent to $7.90 of profit per passenger.
Airlines have recovered since the pandemic, but Boeing and Airbus are still under strain. Their combined deliveries of under 1,400 new planes in 2025 were some way off the record of just over 1,600 in 2018. The resulting shortfall is unlikely to be resolved before 2031 at the earliest, according to IATA.
The average age of the global fleet is around 15 years, compared with 13 years in 2019. Fuel efficiency, which used to improve by around 2% a year as new planes entered service, slowed to 0.3% in 2025. The cost to the industry of its ageing fleet—including extra fuel, repairs and spare parts—was over $11bn in 2025, according to IATA and Oliver Wyman.
European and North American airlines, which account for three-fifths of the industry's net profits, have had to contend with circuitous long-haul routes to avoid Russian airspace since the start of the war in Ukraine. Parts of the Middle East became no-go zones after Israel's strike on Iran in June 2025. America's airlines were hit by a government shutdown that disrupted flights.
Fuel prices, which account for 25-30% of airlines' operating expenses, have dropped, but other costs have risen. Problems with some Pratt & Whitney engines have led to the grounding of a third of the global fleet of Airbus's A320neo single-aisle jets.
The near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz during the 2026 Iran war sent jet-fuel prices climbing. Global demand averaged around 7.8m barrels per day (b/d) in 2025; 2m b/d was internationally traded, with 360,000 b/d coming through Hormuz. Spirit Airlines, an American low-cost carrier already in bankruptcy protection, ceased operating on May 2nd 2026; other airlines added fuel surcharges and cancelled flights. Europe imports around a third of its jet fuel, three-quarters of it historically from the Gulf; Britain imports about 65% of its needs and holds just 29 days of stock, against the IEA's 23-day rationing threshold. The continent in total holds 38 days of commercial stock, 57 with government reserves added. America is largely self-sufficient apart from the west coast, which depends on imports (85% from South Korea) and is not linked to its eastern jet-fuel pipelines.
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