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U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

May 2021 U.S. Airline Traffic Data

Thursday, August 12, 2021

BTS 50-21
Contact: Todd Solomon
Tel:  202-366-0573
todd.solomon@dot.gov

 

 

U.S. scheduled airlines carried 55.0 million passengers systemwide (domestic and international) in May 2021, seasonally-adjusted, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ (BTS), up 15.9% from April.

 

BTS reported 50.3 million domestic passengers and 4.7 million international passengers on U.S. airlines flights in May.

 

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

 

May seasonally adjusted

  • System-wide enplanements (55.0M) were down 31% from the all-time high of 79.8 million reached in January 2020.
  • Domestic enplanements (50.3M) were down 28.2% from the all-time high of 70.0 million reached in January 2020.
  • International enplanements (4.73M) were down 51.4% from the all-time high of 9.73 million reached in January 2020.

 

May unadjusted

  • Systemwide enplanements (57.5M) were down 29.4% from the all-time May high (81.3) reached in 2019.
  • Domestic enplanements (52.5M) were down 26.4% from the all-time May high (71.4) reached in 2019.
  • International enplanements (4.94M) were down 50.5% from the all-time May high (10.0) reached in 2019.

 

Table A. Seasonally Adjusted Passenger Enplanements Compared to Previous Time Periods

Seasonally Adjusted

Passengers (in millions)

Percent Change Compared to

Previous Month

Previous Year

Three Years Previous

May

55.0

15.9%

620.3%

-25.3%

 

Table B. Unadjusted Passenger Enplanements Compared to Previous Time Periods

Unadjusted

Passengers (in millions)

Percent Change Compared to

Previous Year

Two Years Previous

Three Years Previous

May

57.5

613.5%

-29.4%

-25.7%

 

For data filed through May, 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 Aug. 10 for U.S. carrier scheduled civilian operations.

 

See the BTS Airlines and Airports page for additional scheduled service numbers through May for U.S. airlines. International data by origin and destination is available through March.

 

BTS has scheduled Sept. 17 for the release of data through June.

 

None of the data are from samples. Measures of statistical significance do not apply to the complete air traffic data