The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released performance figures for 2018.
In the report, it's said that airlines carried 4.4 billion passengers on scheduled services, an increase of 6.9% over 2017, representing an additional 284 million trips by air.
The report also showcased the top five airlines ranked by total scheduled passenger-kilometres flown. American Airlines topped this list with 330.6 billion, with Delta Airlines coming slightly behind with 330 billion and United Airlines standing in third place with 329.6 billion.
Rounding out the list, Emirates flew 302.3 billion passengers with Southwest Airlines coming in at 214.6 billion.
The IATA statistics revealed that low-cost carriers (LCC) continue to grow, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs) grew by 13.4%, almost double the overall industry growth rate of 6.9%. LCC's accounted for 21% of global capacity.
Airlines in the Asia-Pacific region once again carried the largest number of passengers systemwide, according to the report.
The Asia-Pacific region accounted for 37.1% of the market share, approximately 1.6 billion passengers, an increase of 9.2% compared to the region’s passengers in 2017.
Europe posted a 26.2% market share, accounting for 1.1 billion passengers, up 6.6% from the figure posted in 2017. While, North America gained 22.6% of the market share standing at approximately 989.4 million passengers, up 4.8% from 2017.