India sees fastest domestic air passenger growth in 2015: IATA

India witnessed the fastest domestic air passenger growth at 18.8% in 2015, way ahead of neighbouring China and the United States, according to International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The IATA said airlines worldwide carried 3.6 billion passengers and 52.2 million tonnes of cargo worth $6 trillion last year.

Among the world's largest domestic aviation markets, IATA said India had the fastest domestic passenger growth in 2015.

"With annual growth of 18.8% (in a market of 80 million domestic passengers), India's performance surpassed that of Russia (11.9% growth, in a market of 47 million domestic passengers)," it said in a release.

China witnessed 9.7% growth in a market of 394 million domestic passengers while the US saw 5.4% rise in a market of 708 million local fliers.

Last year, carriers flew 3.6 billion passengers on scheduled services, an increase of 7.2% compared to 2014.

According to IATA, airlines in the Asia-Pacific region carried the largest number of passengers.

In terms of regional ranking, based on total passengers carried on scheduled services by airlines registered in that region, Asia-Pacific had 34% market share followed by Europe (26.2%) and North America (24.8%), among others.

"Last year, airlines safely carried 3.6 billion passengers, the equivalent of 48% of the Earth's population, and transported 52.2 million tonnes of cargo worth around $6 trillion.

"In doing so, we supported some $2.7 trillion in economic activity and 63 million jobs," IATA's Director General and CEO Tony Tyler said.

American Airlines came on top in terms of total scheduled passengers carried, domestic as well as international. Others in the top five were Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines, China Southern Airlines and Ryanair in 2015.