Summary of 2009 Traffic Data u. S and foreign Airlines: total passengers down 5.3% from 2008

 

BTS 15-10
Dave Smallen
202-366-5568

Monday, March 29, 2010 - The number of scheduled domestic and international passengers on U.S. airlines and on flights to and from the United States on foreign airlines declined in 2009 by 5.3 percent from 2008, dropping to 769.6 million, the Department of Transportation?s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today reported (Table 1).

BTS, a part of DOT?s Research and Innovative Technology Administration, in a release of preliminary data, reported that U.S. airlines carried 5.3 percent fewer total system passengers in 2009 than in 2008.? U.S. airlines carried 5.2 percent fewer domestic passengers in 2009 and 6.3 percent fewer international passengers than in 2008. Passengers to and from the United States on foreign carriers decreased 4.8 percent from 2008 (Table 1A).

This release includes data on U.S. carrier appetite suppresant
scheduled domestic and international service and foreign carrier scheduled international service to and from the United States .? BTS regular monthly air traffic releases include data on U.S. carrier scheduled service only.? For U.S. domestic service data for 2009, see the BTS December Air Traffic press release.

Total passengers on U.S. airlines and on foreign airlines to and from the United States declined from the same month in 2008 in 10 of the 12 months. The largest decline of 12.4 percent took place in February. During the first six months of 2009, the number of passengers declined 9.0 percent from the same period in 2008.? During the last six months, the decline was 1.4 percent (Table 2).

Southwest Airlines carried more total system passengers in 2009 than any other U.S. airline for the third consecutive year (Table 3).? American Airlines carried more international passengers to and from the United States in 2009 than any other U.S. or foreign carrier for the 20th consecutive year (Table 7).

More total system passengers boarded planes in 2009 at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International than at any other U.S. airport (Table 4); and more international passengers boarded planes at New York John F. Kennedy than at any other U.S. airport (Table 8).

For more information on U.S. carrier domestic operations, see the BTS December Air Traffic press release.

U.S. carriers and foreign carriers serving the United States operated 10.0 million domestic and international flights in 2009, 6.6 percent fewer than operated in 2008 (Table 1).?

In other total system comparisons from 2008 to 2009 (Table 1):

Revenue passenger-miles (RPMs), a measure of the number of passengers and the distance flown, were down 4.8 percent in 2009.?

Available seat-miles (ASMs), a measure of airline capacity using the number of seats and the distance flown, were down 5.4 percent in 2009.?

Passenger load factor, passenger miles as a proportion of available seat-miles, was up 0.5 load factor points at 79.1 percent in 2009.?

Flight stage length, the average non-stop distance flown per departure, was unchanged in 2009.

Passenger trip length, the average distance flown per passenger, was up 0.5 percent in 2009.?

Among airlines, Southwest carried 101.3 million passengers on its system in 2009, the most of any airline (Table 3).

Among airports, Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson was the busiest U.S. airport in 2009, with 42.1 million domestic and international passenger boardings (Table 4).?

U.S. airlines and foreign airlines carried 151.5 million scheduled international passengers in 2009, down 5.6 percent from 2008. The passengers were carried on 1.27 million flights, down 6.5 percent from the 1.36 million flights operated in 2008 (Table 5). U.S. and foreign airlines operated 623,640 flights into the United States from foreign airports and 624,771 flights from U.S. airports to foreign destinations.  U.S. airlines operated an additional 23,489 foreign-to-foreign flights.

U.S. airlines carried 56.6 percent of the international passengers in 2009, down from 57.1 percent in 2008 (Table 5).

International passengers on U.S. airlines and on foreign airlines to and from the United States declined in all months of 2009 from the same month in 2008 except in December. The largest decline of 13.4 percent took place in the month of May (Table 6).

In other international comparisons from 2008 to 2009 (Table 5):

International revenue passenger-miles (RPMs), a measure of the number of passengers and the distance flown, were down 4.4 percent in 2009.?

International available seat-miles (ASMs), a measure of airline capacity using the number of seats and the distance flown, were down 4.0 percent in 2009.?

International passenger load factor, passenger miles as a proportion of available seat-miles, was down 0.3 load factor points to 77.1 percent in 2009.?

International flight stage length, the average non-stop distance flown per departure, was up 1.2 percent in 2009.?

International passenger trip length, the average distance flown per passenger, was up 1.3 percent in 2009.?

American carried 19.6 million international passengers in 2009, the most of any airline serving the United States (Table 7).

New York JFK was the busiest U.S. airport for international travel in 2009, with 10.7 million international passenger boardings (Table 8).

Data are compiled from monthly reports filed with BTS by commercial U.S. and foreign air carriers detailing operations, passenger traffic and freight traffic. This release includes data received by BTS from 198 carriers as of March 18 for U.S. and foreign carrier scheduled civilian operations. Go to http://www.transtats.bts.gov/releaseinfo.asp for the complete list of reporting and non-reporting carriers.? TranStats results for foreign carriers may differ from the press release until the next database update scheduled for April 15.?

For additional passenger, flight, RPM, ASM, load factor and freight numbers, go to the BTS home page and use the links in the Airline Industry box. International totals and results for foreign carriers may differ from the press release until the next database update scheduled for April 15. These tables do not include U.S. carrier foreign point-to-point operations. For 2009, U.S. carriers reported 2,736,096 foreign point-to-point passengers.

To create a customized table for U.S. carrier passengers, flights, RPMs, ASMs and other data, including non-scheduled service, go to BTS Air Carrier Traffic Statistics.

Additional traffic numbers are available on the BTS website at TranStats, the Intermodal Transportation Database, at http://transtats.bts.gov.? Click on ?Aviation.?? For U.S. carrier system passengers, RPMs and ASMs by carrier through December, click on ?Air Carrier Summary Data (Form 41 and 298C Summary Data),? and then click on ?Schedule T-1.? Use crosstabs to find scheduled service.

For domestic numbers through December and international numbers through September by origin as well as by carrier, after clicking on ?Aviation,? click on ?Air Carrier Statistics (Form 41 Traffic).?? Click on ?T-100 Market? for system passenger numbers, ?T-100 Domestic Market? for domestic or ?T-100 International Market? for international.? For flights, stage length and trip length, use the appropriate T-100 Segment database. Use crosstabs to find scheduled service. Complete international data will be released on July 15.

TranStats system and international totals do not include U.S. carriers ? foreign point-to-point flights.

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Revenue Passenger Miles (in billions)Available Seat-Miles (in billions)Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Market and Segment

* Includes U.S. carrier scheduled domestic and international service and foreign carrier scheduled international service to and from the United States .? For U.S. carrier domestic and international service data for 2009, see the BTS December air traffic press release

** Change in load factor points

***The average non-stop distance flown per departure in miles

**** The average distance flown per passenger in miles

Note: Percent changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

Excel | CSV

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Market

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

Excel | CSV

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Market

* Includes U.S. carrier scheduled domestic and international service and foreign carrier scheduled international service to and from the United States .? For U.S. carrier domestic and international service data for 2009, see the BTS December air traffic press release

Note: Percent changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

Excel | CSV

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Market

* Includes U.S. carrier scheduled domestic and international service and foreign carrier scheduled international service to and from the United States .? For U.S. carrier domestic and international service data for 2009, see the BTS December air traffic press release

Note: Percent changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

Excel | CSV

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Market

* Includes U.S. carrier scheduled domestic and international service and foreign carrier scheduled international service to and from the United States .? For U.S. carrier domestic and international service data for 2009, see the BTS December air traffic press release

Note: Percent changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Excel | CSV

Revenue Passenger Miles (in billions)Available Seat-Miles (in billions)Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 International Market and Segment

* Includes U.S. carrier scheduled international service and foreign carrier scheduled international service to and from the United States . ?For U.S. carrier scheduled international service data for 2009, see the BTS December air traffic press release

** Change in load factor points

*** The average non-stop distance flown per departure in miles

**** The average distance flown per passenger in miles

Note: Percent changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

Excel | CSV

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 International Market

* Includes U.S. carrier scheduled international service and foreign carrier scheduled international service to and from the United States .? For U.S. carrier scheduled international service data for 2009, see the BTS December air traffic press release

Note: Percent changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Passenger numbers in thousands (000)

Excel | CSV

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 International Market

* Includes U.S. carrier scheduled international service and foreign carrier scheduled international service to and from the United States .? For U.S. carrier scheduled international service data for 2009, see the BTS December air traffic press release

Note: Percent changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Passenger numbers in thousands (000)

Excel | CSV

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 International Market

* Includes U.S. carrier scheduled international service and foreign carrier scheduled international service to and from the United States.? For U.S. carrier scheduled international service data for 2009, see the BTS December air traffic press release

Note: Percent changes based on numbers prior to rounding.