Fermi question · Geography

About how many passenger journeys did airlines carry worldwide in 2025?

Make a fast, defensible estimate before you reveal the reference answer. Think in factors, not exact recall.

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What is your estimate?

passenger journeys

Use a positive number. Commas and scientific notation are okay.

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Reference answer

Reveal the reference answer

≈ 5 billion passenger journeys

Fermi estimates are judged by scale, so a reasonable approximation can still earn a strong score.

One way to estimate it

Estimate the share of the world that flies in a year, then allow for travelers taking more than one flight segment.

  1. World population≈ 8.2 billion
  2. People who flya minority of the world in a given year
  3. Repeat segmentsmany flyers take more than one trip
  4. Estimateorder of 5 billion passenger journeys

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