October 2011 Airline System Traffic Down 1.5 Percent from October 2010

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics issued the following news release:

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today in a release of preliminary data that U.S. airlines carried 61.2 million scheduled domestic and international passengers in October 2011. This is a 1.5 percent decrease over October 2010 (Table 1). The October 2011 passenger total was 4.1 percent above that of two years ago in October 2009 (Table 2).

BTS, a part of DOT's Research and Innovative Technology Administration, also reported that U.S. airlines carried 1.3 percent fewer domestic passengers in October 2011 than in October 2010. The number of international passengers on U.S. carriers in October 2011 decreased 3.0 percent from October 2010 (Table 13). The domestic load factor of 83.6 percent was a record high for the month of October (Table 7).

U.S. airlines carried 613.0 million total system passengers during the first 10 months of 2011, up 1.5 percent from the same period in 2010 (Table 2). Domestically, they carried 534.6 million passengers, up 1.4 percent from 2010 (Table 8). Internationally, they carried 78.4 million passengers, up 2.2 percent from 2010 (Table 14). Systemwide, domestic and international totals were all the highest for January through October since 2008. See Tables 2, 8 and 14 of Air Traffic Press Releases for previous year numbers.

Additional traffic numbers can be found on the BTS website in the Airlines and Airports box. Click on a link in the column on the right.

Load Factor

Systemwide load factors were down 0.6 percentage point in October 2011 from October 2010. The international load factor was down 2.4 percentage points from October 2010. From January through October, systemwide capacity, measured by available seat-miles, was up 2.5 percent, domestic was up 1.4 percent and international was up 5.0 percent compared to the first 10 months of 2010 (Tables 1, 7, 13).

Top Airlines

Monthly: In October, Delta Air Lines carried more total system passengers than any other U.S. airline (Table 4). Southwest Airlines carried the most domestic passengers (Table 10). American Airlines carried the most international passengers (Table 16).

Year-to-date: During the first 10 months of 2011, Delta carried more total system and international passengers while Southwest carried more domestic passengers than any other U.S. airline (Tables 3, 9, 15).

Top Airports

Monthly: In October, more total system and domestic passengers boarded planes at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International than at any other U.S. airport (Tables 6, 12); and more international passengers boarded U.S. carriers at Miami than at any other U.S. airport (Table 18).

Year-to-date: During the first 10 months of 2011, more total system and domestic passengers boarded planes at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson than at any other U.S. airport (Tables 5 and 11); and more international passengers boarded U.S. carriers at Miami than at any other U.S. airport (Table 17).

For other year-to-date and monthly comparisons, see the following tables:

System (Domestic + International) (Tables 1-6)

Table 1 (October and January through October):

Passengers

Flights

Revenue passenger-miles (RPMs)

Available seat-miles (ASMs)

Passenger load factor

Flight stage length

Passenger trip length

Table 2

System scheduled enplanements on U.S. airlines by month since January 2009

Airline Rankings

Table 3

January through October: Top 10 airlines by scheduled passenger enplanements

Table 4

October: Top 10 airlines by scheduled passenger enplanements

Airport Rankings

Table 5

January through October: Top 10 airports by scheduled passenger enplanements on U.S. airlines

Table 6

October: Top 10 airports by scheduled passenger enplanements on U.S. airlines

Scheduled Domestic Air Travel (Tables 7-12)

Table 7 (October and January through October):

Domestic passengers

Domestic flights

Domestic revenue passenger-miles (RPMs)

Domestic available seat-miles (ASMs)

Domestic passenger load factor

Domestic flight stage length

Domestic passenger trip length

Table 8

Domestic scheduled enplanements on U.S. airlines by month since January 2009

Airline Rankings

Table 9

January through October: Top 10 domestic airlines by scheduled passenger enplanements

Table 10

October: Top 10 domestic airlines by scheduled passenger enplanements

Airport Rankings

Table 11

January through October: Top 10 domestic airports by scheduled passenger enplanements

Table 12

October: Top 10 domestic airports by scheduled passenger enplanements

Scheduled International Air Travel on U.S. Airlines (Tables 13-18)

Table 13 (October and January through October):

International passengers

International flights

International revenue passenger-miles on U.S. airlines (RPMs)

International available seat-miles on U.S. airlines (ASMs)

International passenger load factor on U.S. airlines

International flight stage length on U.S. airlines

International passenger trip length on U.S. airlines

Table 14

International scheduled enplanements on U.S. airlines by month since January 2009

Airline Rankings

Table 15

January through October: Top 10 U.S. airlines by scheduled international passenger enplanements

Table 16

October: Top 10 U.S. airlines by scheduled international passenger enplanements

Airport Rankings

Table 17

January through October: Top 10 airports by scheduled international passenger

enplanements on U.S. airlines

Table 18

October: Top 10 airports by scheduled international passenger enplanements on U.S. airlines

Reporting Notes

Data are compiled from monthly reports filed with BTS by commercial U.S. air carriers detailing operations, passenger traffic and freight traffic. This release includes data received by BTS from 78 carriers as of Jan. 3 for U.S. carrier scheduled civilian operations. Go to http://www.transtats.bts.gov/releaseinfo.asp for the complete list of reporting and non-reporting carriers. U.S. carriers' foreign point-to-point flights are included in system and international totals. To create a customized table for passengers, flights, RPMs, ASMs and other data, including non-scheduled service, go to http://www.bts.gov/programs/airline_information/air_carrier_traffic_statistics/.

Traffic numbers are available on the BTS website at TranStats, the Intermodal Transportation Database, at http://transtats.bts.gov. Click on "Aviation." For system passengers, RPMs and ASMs by carrier through October, 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 October and international numbers through July 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.

TranStats system and international totals do not include U.S. carriers' foreign point-to-point flights. For October, U.S. carriers reported 194,579 foreign point-to-point passengers. For January through October, U.S. carriers reported 2,045,605 foreign point-to-point passengers.

Data are subject to revision. BTS has scheduled Feb. 23 for the release of November traffic data.

Tables omitted, click here (http://www.bts.gov/press_releases/2012/bts003_12/html/bts003_12.html) to view.

Contact: Dave Smallen, 202/366-5568

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