Four Billion People a Year Are Now Getting There by Air

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Air-travel passenger demand has more than doubled this century and topped 4 billion in 2018. Behind the traffic: the rise of low-cost carriers in Europe and the U.S., as well as increasing wealth in Asia and Latin America. Fuel consumption by airlines has jumped, too, and now accounts for more than 7% of the global total, according to a BloombergNEF report. The International Civil Aviation Organization forecasts another doubling of passengers in the next two decades.