For the first time ever, worldwide annual air passenger numbers have exceeded four billion in a 12-month period.

According to a new report from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), 2017 was a record year for travel, thanks in large part to broad-based improvements in global economic conditions and lower average airfares.

Airlines carried 4.1 billion passengers on scheduled services last year. That's an increase of 7.3 percent over 2016, representing an additional 280 million trips by air.

The surge was also likely helped along by the fact that airlines connected a record number of cities worldwide, providing service to more than 20,000 city pairs in 2017, according to IATA. That figure is more than double the level it was in 1995.

"Such increases in direct services improve the industry's efficiency by cutting costs and saving time for both travelers and shippers alike," said IATA in a statement.

The IATA data also revealed that U.S. citizens continue to be the world's most frequent fliers. About 632 million Americans flew on commercial airline flights last year, representing 18.6 percent of all passengers. The People's Republic of China came in second, at 555 million or 16.3 percent of all passengers.

All of the new data is part of the recently released 62nd Edition of the World Air Transport Statistics (WATS), the yearbook of the airline industry's performance.

"In 2000, the average citizen flew just once every 43 months. In 2017, the figure was once every 22 months. Flying has never been more accessible. And this is liberating people to explore more of our planet for work, leisure and education," said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA's director general and CEO.

Here are the highlights of the 2017 airline industry performance:

Passenger

Airlines in the Asia-Pacific region once again carried the largest number of passengers. The regional rankings (based on total passengers carried on scheduled services by airlines registered in that region) are:

-Asia-Pacific: 36.3 percent market share (1.5 billion passengers, representing an increase of 10.6 percent compared to the region's passengers in 2016)

-Europe: 26.3 percent market share (1.1 billion passengers, up 8.2 percent over 2016)

-North America: 23 percent market share (941.8 million, up 3.2 percent over 2016)

-Latin America: 7 percent market share (286.1 million, up 4.1 percent over 2016)

-Middle East: 5.3 percent market share (216.1 million, an increase of 4.6 percent over 2016)

-Africa: 2.2 percent market share (88.5 million, up 6.6 percent over 2016).

The top five airlines ranked by total scheduled passenger-kilometers flown were:

-American Airlines: 324 million

-Delta Air Lines: 316.3 million

-United Airlines: 311 million

-Emirates Airline: 289 million

-Southwest Airlines: 207.7 million

The top five international/regional passenger airport-pairs were all within the Asia-Pacific region, again this year:

-Hong Kong-Taipei Taoyuan: 5.4 million, up 1.8 percent from 2016

-Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta-Singapore: 3.3 million, up 0.8 percent from 2016

-Bangkok Suvarnabhumi-Hong Kong: 3.1 million, an increase of 3.5 percent from 2016

-Kuala Lumpur-Singapore: 2.8 million, down. 0.3 percent from 2016

-Hong Kong-Seoul Incheon: 2.7 million, down 2.2 percent from 2016

The top five domestic passenger airport-pairs were also all in the Asia-Pacific region:

-Jeju-Seoul Gimpo: 13.5 million, up 14.8 percent over 2016

-Melbourne Tullamarine-Sydney: 7.8 million, up 0.4 percent from 2016

-Fukuoka-Tokyo Haneda: 7.6 million, an increase of 6.1 percent from 2016

-Sapporo-Tokyo Haneda: 7.4 million, up 4.6 percent from 2016

-Beijing Capital-Shanghai Hongqiao: 6.4 million, up 1.9 percent from 2016

One of the interesting recent additions to the WATS report is the ranking of passenger traffic by nationality, for international and domestic travel. (Nationality refers to the passenger's citizenship as opposed to the country of residence.)

-United States of America: 632 million, representing 18.6 percent of all passengers

-People's Republic of China: 555 million or 16.3 percent of all passengers

- India: 161.5 million or 4.7 percent of all passengers

- United Kingdom: 147 million or 4.3 percent of all passengers

- Germany: 114.4 million or 3.4 percent of all passengers

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