January 2023 U.S. Airline Traffic Data
BTS 18-23
U.S. airlines carried 67.1 million systemwide (domestic and international) scheduled service passengers in January 2023 according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ (BTS). When adjusted for seasonality, January enplanements are up 4.0% from December and down 3.7% from the all-time high in January 2020.
BTS reported 58.1 million domestic passengers and 9.0 million international passengers on U.S. airlines flights in January, not adjusting for seasonality.
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.
Two measures of U.S. airlines passenger enplanements
January seasonally adjusted:
- System-wide enplanements (78.1M) up 4.0% from December 2022 (75.1M).
- January system-wide enplanements were down 3.5% from the all-time high of 80.9 million reached in January 2020.
- Domestic enplanements (68.5M) were down 3.7% from the all-time high of 71.1 million reached in January 2020.
- International enplanements (9.58M) were down 2.2% from the all-time high of 9.79 million reached in January 2020.
January unadjusted:
- System-wide enplanements (67.1M) were down 6.5% from December 2022 (71.7M).
- January system-wide enplanements were down 5.2% from the all-time January high (70.8M) reached in 2020.
- Domestic enplanements (58.1M) were down 5.8% from the all-time January high (61.6M) reached in 2020.
- International enplanements (9.03M) were down 1.5% from the all-time January high (9.16M) reached in 2020.
Monthly Passengers on U.S. Scheduled Airlines (Domestic + International), January 2020 - January 2023
| Month | Domestic + International |
|---|---|
| Jan-20 | 80.9 |
| Feb-20 | 80.4 |
| Mar-20 | 37.5 |
| Apr-20 | 3.0 |
| May-20 | 7.6 |
| Jun-20 | 15.1 |
| Jul-20 | 20.7 |
| Aug-20 | 24.3 |
| Sep-20 | 26.9 |
| Oct-20 | 29.3 |
| Nov-20 | 30.3 |
| Dec-20 | 31.7 |
| Jan-21 | 31.7 |
| Feb-21 | 32.4 |
| Mar-21 | 41.0 |
| Apr-21 | 47.2 |
| May-21 | 54.7 |
| Jun-21 | 60.0 |
| Jul-21 | 64.0 |
| Aug-21 | 62.3 |
| Sep-21 | 62.4 |
| Oct-21 | 64.5 |
| Nov-21 | 69.4 |
| Dec-21 | 68.8 |
| Jan-22 | 61.0 |
| Feb-22 | 67.0 |
| Mar-22 | 69.3 |
| Apr-22 | 72.0 |
| May-22 | 70.8 |
| Jun-22 | 69.8 |
| Jul-22 | 69.5 |
| Aug-22 | 71.2 |
| Sep-22 | 74.9 |
| Oct-22 | 76.0 |
| Nov-22 | 76.1 |
| Dec-22 | 75.1 |
| Jan-23 | 78.1 |
Bureau of Transportation Statistics
Table A. Seasonally Adjusted Passenger Enplanements Compared to Previous Time Periods
|
Seasonally |
Passengers |
Percent Change Compared to: |
||
|
Previous |
Previous |
Three Years |
||
|
January |
78.1 |
4.0% |
28.0% |
-3.5% |
Table B. Unadjusted Passenger Enplanements Compared to Previous Time Periods
|
Unadjusted |
Passengers |
Percent Change Compared to: |
||
|
Previous |
Two Years |
Three Years |
||
|
January |
67.1 |
29.3% |
145.8% |
-5.2% |
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 77 U.S. carriers as of April 26 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 October. 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. BTS’ Airlines and Airports page does not include U.S. carriers’ foreign point-to-point flights.
BTS has scheduled May 11 for the release of data through February.
None of the data are from samples. Measures of statistical significance do not apply to the complete air traffic data.
Missing carriers: 3E, (Multi-Aero), 20 (Island Air) and 2HQ (Elite) has not reported for January. ExpressJet (EV) is in Chapter 11 and discontinued operations on August 22; there are no operations to report for September and beyond.