A strong peak summer saw global airlines achieve a record passenger load factor of almost 85%.
August figures released by Iata show a continuing strong demand for both domestic and international routes.
The load factor rose by 0.9 percentage points despite capacity rising by 5.9% over the same month last year.
Iata director general and chief executive, Tony Tyler, said: “August results continue the trend of strong demand for air travel, despite some softening in global economic growth, particularly in emerging markets
“Airlines are committed to meeting growing demand sustainably. The record high load factor of 84.7% is a great indicator of improved efficiency – a 17 percentage point increase over the industry’s performance a decade ago.
“This is just one indicator of the aviation industry’s determination to achieve carbon neutral growth from 2020,” said Tyler.
Iata was among signatories to an open letter from the aviation industry calling on governments to agree to a simple, global offsetting scheme which will stabilise air transport carbon emissions, and to endorse a global CO2 standard for new aircraft.
Tyler added: “Although the global economic outlook is decidedly mixed, demand for aviation connectivity remains strong.
“We are seeing the benefits of that connectivity play out at the Rugby World Cup taking place in England.
“Over 450,000 international fans are expected to attend the six-week pinnacle event of the sport. Ernst and Young estimate that they will directly spend £870 million and add £2.2 billion to the UK economy.
“Aviation is helping to make this enormous infusion of spending possible. One can only speculate how much more value would be created for the UK’s economy, were it not for the punitive UK Air Passenger Duty.”