January 2020 U.S. Airline Traffic Data (Final)
U.S. airlines carried an estimated 79.0 million systemwide (domestic and international) scheduled service passengers in January 2020, seasonally-adjusted, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ (BTS), up 0.1% from December.
BTS is withholding the scheduled release of estimated U.S. airlines’ traffic data for February and March because the estimates are statistical forecasts based on previous trends. The estimates do not account for the impact of the coronavirus.
Instead, BTS is releasing preliminary monthly data based on reports from the 25 U.S. airlines with the most scheduled service passengers in 2019. February preliminary data [link2come] was released on Tuesday.
U.S. airlines carried 69.3 million domestic passengers and 9.7 million international passengers on U.S. airlines flights in January, seasonally-adjusted.
U.S. airline traffic reports are filed monthly with BTS. See the tables that accompany this release on the BTS website for summary data since 2016 (Tables 1-24) and complete data since 2000.
Figure 1. Monthly Passengers on U.S. Scheduled Airlines (Domestic + International), Seasonally Adjusted Jan 2017-Jan 2020
| Passengers in millions (Seasonally Adjusted) | 1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan-17 | 70.2 | 2 |
| Feb-17 | 69.9 | 3 |
| Mar-17 | 70.0 | 4 |
| Apr-17 | 70.4 | 5 |
| May-17 | 70.7 | 6 |
| Jun-17 | 70.5 | 7 |
| Jul-17 | 71.1 | 8 |
| Aug-17 | 71.1 | 9 |
| Sep-17 | 69.2 | 10 |
| Oct-17 | 72.0 | 11 |
| Nov-17 | 72.3 | 12 |
| Dec-17 | 72.2 | 13 |
| Jan-18 | 72.4 | 14 |
| Feb-18 | 73.4 | 15 |
| Mar-18 | 73.3 | 16 |
| Apr-18 | 74.0 | 17 |
| May-18 | 73.8 | 18 |
| Jun-18 | 74.7 | 19 |
| Jul-18 | 74.8 | 20 |
| Aug-18 | 74.6 | 21 |
| Sep-18 | 73.4 | 22 |
| Oct-18 | 75.0 | 23 |
| Nov-18 | 74.9 | 24 |
| Dec-18 | 75.4 | 25 |
| Jan-19 | 74.9 | 26 |
| Feb-19 | 75.4 | 27 |
| Mar-19 | 77.5 | 28 |
| Apr-19 | 76.7 | 29 |
| May-19 | 77.3 | 30 |
| Jun-19 | 77.8 | 31 |
| Jul-19 | 77.9 | 32 |
| Aug-19 | 77.7 | 33 |
| Sep-19 | 77.2 | 34 |
| Oct-19 | 77.7 | 35 |
| Nov-19 | 78.3 | 36 |
| Dec-19 | 79.0 | 37 |
| Jan-20 | 79.0 | 38 |
| 39 |
Two measures of U.S. airlines passenger enplanements
Reported January seasonally-adjusted
- System-wide enplanements (79.0M) were virtually unchanged from the all-time, seasonally-adjusted, reported high of 79.0 million reached in December 2019.
- Domestic enplanements (69.3M) were virtually unchanged from the all-time, seasonally-adjusted, reported high of 69.3 million reached in December 2019.
- International enplanements (9.71M) were down 0.3% from the all-time, seasonally-adjusted, reported high of 9.74 million reached in June 2019.
Reported January unadjusted
- System-wide enplanements (70.8M) were up 5.6% from the all-time high for the month of January reached in 2019 (67.0M).
- Domestic enplanements (61.6M) were up 6.2% from the all-time high for the month of January reached in 2019 (58.0M).
- International enplanements (9.15M) were up 1.9% from the all-time high for the month of January reached in 2019 (8.98M).
Table A. Seasonally-Adjusted Reported Passenger Enplanements Compared to Previous Time Periods
| Percent Change Compared to | ||||
| Seasonally-Adjusted | Passengers (in millions) | Previous Month | Previous Year | Three Years Previous |
| January reported | 79.0 | 0.1% | 5.5% | 12.6% |
Table B. Unadjusted Reported Passenger Enplanements Compared to Previous Time Periods
| Percent Change Compared to | ||||
| Seasonally-Adjusted | Passengers (in millions) | Previous Year | Two Years Previous | Three Years Previous |
| January reported | 70.8 | 5.6% | 9.8% | 13.0% |
For data filed through January, see accompanying tables. For the complete database of reported data, see Traffic. For an explanation of BTS’ seasonal adjustment methodology, see Seasonal Adjustment.
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 74 U.S. carriers as of April 6 for U.S. carrier scheduled civilian operations.
See the BTS Airlines and Airports page for additional scheduled service numbers through January for U.S. airlines. International data by origin and destination is available through September.
BTS has scheduled May 14 for the release of February air traffic data.
None of the data are from samples. Measures of statistical significance do not apply to the complete air traffic data.