Montreal/New Delhi, Jul 6 (IANS): India achieved the fastest domestic passenger growth in 2015, a leading global airlines association has said.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said in its "World Air Transport Statistics", released on Tuesday, that India achieved an annual growth of 18.8 per cent in a market of 80 million domestic passengers during 2015.

“India’s performance surpassed that of Russia (11.9 per cent growth, in a market of 47 million domestic passengers), China (9.7 per cent growth, in a market of 394 million domestic passengers) and the United States (5.4 per cent growth, in a market of 708 million domestic passengers),” IATA said.

Tony Tyler, Director General and Chief Executive of IATA, elaborated that in 2015 airlines ferried 3.6 billion passengers and transported 52.2 million tonnes of cargo.

"Last year airlines safely carried 3.6 billion passengers -- the equivalent of 48 per cent 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," Tyler said.