January 2013 U.S. Airline System Passengers Up 1.6% from January 2012

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today that U.S. airlines carried 55.3 million scheduled systemwide passengers in January 2013, 1.6 percent more than in January 2012. The systemwide increase was the result of a 1.5 percent increase in the number of domestic passengers (47.8 million) and a 2.3 percent increase in international passengers (7.5 million) (Tables 1, 2, 5, 9).

Passengers on All U.S. Scheduled Airlines (Domestic & International),
February 2008-January 2013

BTS, a part of the Department’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration, reported that the system load factor of 78.8 percent, the domestic load factor of 78.9 percent and the international load factor of 78.8 percent were record highs for the month of January (Tables 1, 5, 9).

Additional traffic data can be found on the BTS Airlines and Airports page. Click on a link in the Quick Links box on the right. For more historical data, see Traffic on the BTS website.

Load Factor and Capacity

Both systemwide and domestic capacity, measured by available seat-miles (ASMs), increased in January 2013 from January 2012 but stronger year-to-year growth in system and domestic revenue passenger-miles (RPMs) resulted in the record January load factors. The previous system and domestic load factor records for January were set in 2012 (Tables 1, 5). In January, for the second consecutive month, international capacity declined from the same month of the previous year. The capacity decline combined with an RPM increase from January 2012 resulted in a record international load factor for the month of January, surpassing the previous high set in January 2010 (Table 9). Load factor is a measure of the use of aircraft capacity that compares RPMs as a proportion of ASMs. See Tables 1, 7 and 13 of Air Traffic Press Releases for previous-year data.

Top Airlines

Monthly: In January, Delta Airlines carried more system passengers than any other U.S. airline (Table 3). Southwest Airlines carried the most domestic passengers (Table 7). United Airlines carried the most international passengers (Table 11). The top 10 U.S. airlines in terms of number of passengers carried 80.7 percent of systemwide passengers, up from 79.4 percent carried by the U.S. airlines that were in the top 10 in January 2012.

Southwest and AirTran Airways are reporting as separate carriers with the exception of their financial reports. They have one FAA SOC (single operating certificate), requiring that they utilize the same safety/operating procedures, but they have separate DOT 401 economic certificates, meaning they remain operating as separate economic entities.

Top Airports

Monthly: In January, more total system and domestic passengers boarded planes at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International than at any other U.S. airport (Tables 4, 8); and more international passengers boarded U.S. carriers at Miami than at any other U.S. airport (Table 12).

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 79 carriers as of April 10 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://apps.bts.gov/xml/air_traffic/src/index.xml#CustomizeTable

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 January, 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 January and international numbers through October 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.

International totals in this press release consist of all U.S. carrier operations to and from the U.S. and from one foreign point to another foreign point. TranStats T-100 system and international totals do not include U.S. carriers’ foreign point-to-point flights. For January, U.S. carriers reported 198,830 foreign point-to-point passengers.