The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today that U.S. airlines carried 54.3 million scheduled domestic and international passengers in January 2012, 1.3 percent more domestic passengers and 0.4 percent fewer international passengers than in January 2011. These changes resulted in a systemwide increase of 1.1 percent in passengers from January 2011. The January 2012 passenger total was 3.3 percent above that of two years ago in January 2010.
BTS, a part of DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration, also reported in a release of preliminary data that the system load factor of 77.6 percent and the domestic load factor of 78.1 percent were record highs for the month of January (Tables 1, 5).
U.S. airlines carried 730.0 million total system passengers during the full year in 2011, up 1.3 percent from 2010. Domestically, they carried 637.5 million passengers, up 1.3 percent from 2010. Internationally, they carried 92.5 million passengers, up 1.7 percent from 2010. Systemwide, domestic and international annual totals were the highest since 2008.
