Traffic

In 2023, the top 20 U.S. gateway airports for nonstop international air travel executed 89 percent (209,646) of all 235,492 nonstop international flights. New York, NY (JFK) completed the most nonstop international flights in 2022 (26,436) and 2023 (32,856), with a 24.3 percent increase. From 2022 to 2023, the second-most nonstop international airport shifted from Miami, FL (MIA), to Los Angeles, CA (LAX). Miami, FL (MIA) completed 19,278 in 2022 and 21,456 in 2023, an 11.3 percent increase, the lowest percentage increase of all the top 20 U.S. gateway airports. In contrast, Los Angeles, CA (LAX) increased by 33.5 percent from 16,210 in 2022 to 21,456 in 2023.

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T100 International Segment (All Carriers).

The top 20 carriers performed 88.7 percent of all enplanements in 2023, out of 343 total carriers. Since 2018, Southwest Airlines has remained the top contributing carrier, performing 16.3 percent of all enplanements in 2023. Followed by American Airlines (15.5%), Delta Airlines (15.3%), and United Airlines (12.7%) for 2023. Southwest Airlines increased enplanements by 9.4 percent, from 157 million in 2022 to 171.84 million in 2023. In fourth place for the most enplanements in 2023, United Air Lines increased by 19 percent, from 112.65 million in 2022 to 134.1 million in 2023. Between 2022 and 2023, three of the top 20 air carriers experienced a percentage decrease in enplanements: SkyWest (3.8%), PSA Airlines (4.9%), and Mesa Airlines (20.5%). Ranked seventh for most enplanements in 2022 and 2023, SkyWest Airlines decreased by 3.8 percent from 39.94 million in 2022 to 38.43 million in 2023.

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Market (All Carriers).

Prior to the pandemic, the number of passengers originating from the U.S. steadily increased by an average of 4.9 million passengers per year from 2010 to 2018. By 2019, there were 121.9 million passengers traveling by air originating from the U.S. The following year, 2020, experienced a percentage decline of approximately 74 percent (90.3 million) to 31.6 million passengers. As the pandemic waned, from 2021 to 2022, there was a percentage increase of approximately 98.1 percent (46.1 million). Followed by a 25.4 percent increase of 23.6 million from 2022 to 2023.

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Segment (All Carriers).

Although the U.S. originating freight of 2021 (9.78 billion pounds) exceeded pre-pandemic records, there was a decrease in 2022 by 3.8 percent and the largest percentage decline since 2010 of 10.2 percent in 2023. Prior to the pandemic, U.S. originating freight reached 9.43 billion pounds in 2018 and then decreased by 7.4 percent to 8.74 billion pounds in 2019. When the pandemic hit the U.S. in 2020, the total freight declined by 8.7 percent reaching the lowest freight since 2010 of 7.98 billion pounds. Throughout the years of 2010 to 2023 the top destination countries for freight remain South Korea, Japan, and Germany.

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Segment (All Carriers).

In this table, the load factor is a percentage that compares the number of passengers to the available seat capacity per year. Before the pandemic, in 2019, the number of passengers reached 1 billion out of a 1.3 billion seat capacity, a load factor of 82.3 percent. The following year, in 2020, there was a 25.2 percent decrease in comparison to 2019 load factor. From 2020 to 2021, the load factor rose from 57.1 to 73.5 percent, a 16.4 percent increase in load factor. By 2023, the load factor recovered to 81.1 percent with 1.3 billion seating capacity and 1 billion passengers.

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Segment (All Carriers).

Still recovering from the pandemic, the 10.2 million departures performed in 2023 continue to be less than pre-pandemic’s 10.6 million average departures from 2010 to 2019. Before the pandemic, from 2010 to 2014, there were 0.2 to 1.7 percent decreases, averaging about 115,000 fewer departures per year. After 2014 and 2015 reported the same number of departures, there was a steady average increase of 205,000 more departures per year through 2019. By 2019, there were 11.1 million departures, versus the following year, which had the lowest number of departures since 2010. In 2020, there was a decrease of 39.8 percent to 6.7 million departures, followed by the largest increase of 28.5 percent to 8.6 million departures performed in 2021.

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Segment (All Carriers).

The total seat capacity in 2023 was 1.32 billion, a 21.9 percent (139.8 million) increase from 2022. This surpassed pre-pandemic’s 2019 record of 1.29 billion seat capacity by a difference of 19 million seats. A significant recovery after 2019 to 2020’s decrease of 45.2 percent (585.3 million) to a 709.7 million-seating capacity. The following year, in 2021, reported a percentage increase of 35.8 percent (253.9 million) to 963.7 million seating capacity.

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Segment (All Carriers).

In 2023, the number of passengers for the year reached 1.065 billion. However, the pre-pandemic total passenger count remains the largest since 2010, with 1.066 billion passengers in 2019. Expectedly, when the pandemic hit the U.S. there was a decline of 61.9 percent to 405.7 million passengers from 2019 to 2020. In 2021, there was an increase of 74.8 percent to 708.7 million passengers. The following year there was a 33.8 percent increase from 2021 to 2022 and a 12.3 percent increase from 2022 to 2023.

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Segment (All Carriers).

Based on 490 air carriers, a total of 144.9 million departures were performed from January 2010 to February 2024. Southwest Airlines (WN) leads with 17.7 million total departures, accounting for 12.14 percent of all total departures since 2010. Followed by Delta Airlines (DL) with 13.7 million departures, and then American Airlines (AA) with 12.7 million departures.

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Segment (All Carriers).

Note: NAS is National Aviation System

Note for all Airline Passenger and Freight Traffic (T100) - T100 Segment Data: The Air Carrier Statistics database, also known as the T-100 data, contains domestic and international airline segment data. certificated U.S. air carriers report monthly air carrier traffic information using Form T-100. Foreign carriers having at least one point of service in the United States or one of its territories report monthly air carrier traffic information using Form T-100(f). The data is collected by the Office of Airline Information, Bureau of Transportation Statistics. This data consists of transported passengers, transported freight, seats and departures.