October 2024 U.S. Airline Traffic Data Up 0.2% from the Same Month Last Year
BTS 02-25
This release is published on a fixed schedule as required by the Office of Management and Budget, and statistics in this release may be revised when inputs to the statistics are corrected or updated. Data on the program page of this website are the most up-to-date and complete.
U.S. airlines carried 82.8 million systemwide (domestic and international) scheduled service passengers in October 2024, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). When adjusted for seasonality, October enplanements are down 0.6% from September and down 2.5% from the all-time high reached in June 2024.
BTS reported 73.1 million domestic passengers and 9.8 million international passengers on U.S. airlines flights in October, 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.
Trends (Not Adjusted for Seasonality) U.S. airlines passenger enplanements
- Systemwide enplanements (82.8M) reached a new all-time high for the month of October.
- Domestic enplanements (73.1M) reached a new all-time high for the month of October.
- International enplanements (9.8M) reached a new all-time high for the month of October.
Monthly Passengers on U.S. Scheduled Airlines (Domestic + International), October 2021 - October 2024
| Month | Domestic + International passengers |
|---|---|
| Oct-21 | 65.9 |
| Nov-21 | 65.8 |
| Dec-21 | 66.6 |
| Jan-22 | 51.9 |
| Feb-22 | 54.8 |
| Mar-22 | 72.5 |
| Apr-22 | 71.9 |
| May-22 | 75.8 |
| Jun-22 | 77.4 |
| Jul-22 | 80.4 |
| Aug-22 | 76.6 |
| Sep-22 | 71.4 |
| Oct-22 | 76.4 |
| Nov-22 | 71.9 |
| Dec-22 | 71.9 |
| Jan-23 | 67.4 |
| Feb-23 | 64.8 |
| Mar-23 | 79.8 |
| Apr-23 | 77.6 |
| May-23 | 81.8 |
| Jun-23 | 84.0 |
| Jul-23 | 87.8 |
| Aug-23 | 83.1 |
| Sep-23 | 76.3 |
| Oct-23 | 82.6 |
| Nov-23 | 77.7 |
| Dec-23 | 78.7 |
| Jan-24 | 70.1 |
| Feb-24 | 70.4 |
| Mar-24 | 84.9 |
| Apr-24 | 81.2 |
| May-24 | 87.1 |
| Jun-24 | 89.7 |
| Jul-24 | 91.8 |
| Aug-24 | 86.8 |
| Sep-24 | 77.5 |
| Oct-24 | 82.8 |
Table A. Unadjusted Passenger Enplanements Compared to Previous Time Periods
|
|
Percent Change Compared to |
|||
| Unadjusted | Passengers (in millions) |
Previous |
Two Years |
Three Years |
|
October |
82.8 |
0.2% |
8.5% |
25.7% |
Trends Adjusted for Seasonality: U.S. Airlines Passenger Enplanements
- Systemwide enplanements (80.9M) were down 2.5% from the all-time high of 82.9 million reached in June 2024.
- Domestic enplanements (69.9M) were down 3.1% from the all-time high of 72.2 million reached in June 2024.
- International enplanements (11.0M) were down 1.0% from the all-time high of 11.1 million reached in February 2024.
Table B. Seasonally Adjusted Passenger Enplanements Compared to Previous Time Periods
|
|
Percent Change Compared to |
|||
| Seasonally Adjusted |
Passengers (in millions) |
Previous |
Previous |
Three Years |
|
October |
80.9 |
-0.6% |
0.1% |
26.0% |
For data filed through October, 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 January 7 for U.S. carrier scheduled civilian operations.
See the BTS Airlines and Airports page for total enplanements of U.S. and foreign carriers from 2002 to the most recent reported data, as well as data for other aspects of commercial aviation. The statistics do not include U.S. carrier’s foreign point-to-point flights.
BTS has scheduled February 13th for the release of data through November.
None of the data are from samples. Measures of statistical significance do not apply to the complete air traffic data.
At the beginning of each month, BTS releases preliminary enplanement estimates for the preceding three months. Unlike the monthly releases of U.S. carrier passenger counts, which are reported from U.S. carrier scheduled civilian operations, the preliminary estimates are based on strong statistical relationships at the national level between airport checkpoint screenings by the Transportation Security Administration and passenger counts for all carriers and unscheduled service.
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