India Beats Out Japan as Third-Largest Air-Travel Market: Chart

(Bloomberg) -- India overtook Japan as the third-biggest aviation market last year, with airports in the South Asian nation handling 100 million domestic passengers compared with 97 million for Japan, according to the CAPA Centre for Aviation in Sydney. Air traffic in India expanded about 24 percent last year on the back of an emerging middle class flying for the first time, while growth in Japan stagnated. The U.S. and China remained the two biggest markets by far, with 719 million and 436 million travelers.