According to the International Air Transport Association, Asia’s most populous countries are among the fastest-growing markets in the world for air travel.

According to the recent data, 3.8 billion passengers travelled by air in 2016, up from 3.5 billion the previous year. While the United States remains the largest market in the world for air travel, China, India and Indonesia all experienced double-digit growth.

India jumped two places to become the world’s fourth-largest aviation market last year with 131 million departures, a 20 per cent year-over-year increase. It’s likely India will move up another spot, ahead of Japan, which handled 141 million passengers in 2016.

Indonesia is also moving up in the world of air travel, with 116 million passenger departures last year, marking a 12.9 per cent year-over-year increase.

The United States and China remained, by far, the largest passenger aviation markets in the world in 2016, accounting for more than one-third of global traffic. Air traffic in China continued to grow strongly in 2016, rising 10.3 per cent year-over-year.

“Air travel was a good news story in 2016. Connectivity increased with the establishment of more than 700 new routes. And a $44 fall in average return fares helped to make air travel even more accessible,” said Alexandre de Juniac, director general and CEO, IATA.

Of the 3.8 billion air passenger departures globally in 2016, nearly 50 per cent were on domestic flights, 34 per cent were international and the remaining 16 per cent were connecting departures.