U.S. Airlines Carried 12% More Cargo in November 2020
Release Number: BTS 05-21
U.S. airlines carried 12% more cargo by weight in November 2020 (preliminary) than in November 2019. The rise was fueled by gains of 13% in domestic cargo and 10% in international cargo, according to data filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) by 14 of the leading U.S. cargo airlines.
The 14 airlines carry 95% of the total cargo by weight on U.S. airlines. Cargo data consists of freight and mail carried within the U.S. and between the U.S. and foreign points.
November 2020 (preliminary) air cargo numbers for 14 U.S. carriers:
- Total: 1,644 thousand tons, up 12.4% from November 2019 (1,463T tons)
- Domestic: 1,202 thousand tons, up 13.2% from November 2019 (1,062T tons)
- International: 442 thousand tons, up 10.2% from November 2019 (401T tons)
U.S. airline traffic reports are filed monthly with BTS. Final November data will be released on Feb. 11. Complete international data by origin and destination, which is under a six-month confidentiality restriction, will be released on May 13.
| 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.5 | 10.6 | 4.9 | -1.4 |
| February | 6.2 | 9.3 | -0.4 | -0.4 |
| March | 8.0 | 5.7 | -0.3 | -1.4 |
| April | 2.5 | 5.7 | 4.5 | -1.3 |
| May | 11.0 | 9.0 | 3.1 | 1.2 |
| June | 6.9 | 5.6 | -1.2 | 9.5 |
| July | 7.2 | 6.6 | 3.6 | 12.8 |
| August | 10.4 | 4.8 | 0.2 | 5.7 |
| September | 4.7 | 4.9 | -4.5 | 18.6 |
| October | 11.1 | 5.7 | -1.2 | 13.0 |
| November* | 10.8 | -0.7 | -2.2 | 12.4 |
| December | 5.5 | 0.2 | 0.7 | |
| Jan - Nov | 7.8 | 6.0 | 0.5 | 6.3 |
| Annual | 7.6 | 5.4 | 0.5 | -3.4 |
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Market
* November 2020 data is preliminary
| 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4.6 | 10.3 | 6.2 | 0.5 |
| February | 4.9 | 9.0 | 0.7 | 1.9 |
| March | 7.0 | 3.9 | -0.2 | 3.4 |
| April | 1.3 | 4.9 | 8.2 | 3.8 |
| May | 10.7 | 9.0 | 4.6 | 4.7 |
| June | 5.2 | 4.6 | 0.7 | 13.3 |
| July | 5.2 | 6.7 | 6.7 | 15.8 |
| August | 9.7 | 4.7 | 0.2 | 7.2 |
| September | 3.3 | 4.1 | -2.8 | 21.7 |
| October | 11.1 | 6.1 | 1.7 | 14.3 |
| November* | 11.4 | -0.4 | -1.6 | 13.2 |
| December | 4.7 | 0.1 | 4.6 | |
| Jan - Nov | 6.8 | 5.6 | 2.1 | 9.1 |
| Annual | 6.6 | 5.0 | 2.4 | -1.3 |
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Domestic Market
* November 2020 data is preliminary
| 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 11.9 | 11.3 | 1.5 | -6.7 |
| February | 9.8 | 10.2 | -3.4 | -6.7 |
| March | 10.7 | 10.6 | -0.5 | -13.6 |
| April | 5.8 | 7.7 | -4.5 | -15.4 |
| May | 11.9 | 8.9 | -1.0 | -8.4 |
| June | 11.7 | 8.4 | -5.7 | -0.7 |
| July | 12.5 | 6.5 | -4.1 | 4.5 |
| August | 12.4 | 5.2 | 0.1 | 1.6 |
| September | 8.4 | 6.8 | -8.8 | 10.5 |
| October | 11.2 | 4.6 | -8.7 | 9.5 |
| November* | 9.1 | -1.5 | -3.7 | 10.2 |
| December | 8.1 | 0.4 | -10.7 | |
| Jan Nov | 10.4 | 6.9 | -3.6 | -1.3 |
| Annual | 10.2 | 6.4 | -4.2 | -9.0 |
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 International Market
* November 2020 data is preliminary
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 14 U.S. airlines as of Jan. 8.
See the BTS Airlines and Airports page for additional U.S. airlines numbers through October for U.S. airlines. International data by origin and destination is available through July.
None of the data are from samples. Measures of statistical significance do not apply to the complete air traffic data.