U.S. Airlines September 2020 Passengers Decreased 65% from September 2019 (Preliminary)
U.S. airlines carried 65% fewer scheduled service passengers in September 2020 than in September 2019 (preliminary), according to data filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) by 23 airlines that carry more than 90% of the passengers. The 65% decline from September 2019 was the smallest annual decrease since March.
The large airlines carried 25.1 million passengers in September 2020 (preliminary), compared to 71.5 million passengers on all U.S. airlines in September 2019 and up from 3.0 million in April 2020, which was the lowest monthly total in BTS records dating back to 1974. The previous low was 14.6 million passengers in February 1975.
Preliminary September 2020 passenger numbers (23 carriers reporting):
- Total: 25.1 million passengers, down 65% from September 2019 (71.5M)
- Domestic: 23.7M passengers, down 62% from September 2019 (63.0M)
- International: 1.4M passengers, down 83.6% from September 2019 (8.5M)
U.S. airline traffic reports are filed monthly with BTS. Final September data will be released on Dec. 10. Complete international data by origin and destination, which is under a six-month confidentiality restriction, will be released on March 11.
| 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3.0 | 2.9 | 4.0 | 5.6 |
| February | -0.2 | 5.7 | 3.0 | 6.7 |
| March | 3.4 | 4.6 | 5.1 | -51.3 |
| April | 4.5 | 4.8 | 3.8 | -96.1 |
| May | 3.0 | 4.9 | 5.2 | -89.6 |
| June | 3.4 | 5.0 | 3.7 | -80.3 |
| July | 3.8 | 5.2 | 3.6 | -72.4 |
| August | 5.0 | 5.0 | 3.4 | -69.8 |
| September | -2.3 | 5.8 | 5.7 | -64.8* |
| October | 4.6 | 3.9 | 4.1 | |
| November | 4.6 | 4.5 | 0.5 | |
| December | 3.5 | 3.6 | 8.8 | |
| Annual | 3.1 | 4.7 | 4.2 |
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Market
* September 2020 data is preliminary
| 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3.1 | 3.2 | 3.9 | 6.2 |
| February | -0.1 | 5.9 | 3.0 | 7.4 |
| March | 3.8 | 4.2 | 5.4 | -51.0 |
| April | 3.7 | 5.7 | 3.7 | -95.7 |
| May | 2.7 | 5.3 | 5.2 | -88.5 |
| June | 3.1 | 5.3 | 3.6 | -77.9 |
| July | 3.7 | 5.8 | 3.8 | -69.6 |
| August | 5.0 | 5.5 | 3.4 | -67.1 |
| September | -2.5 | 5.8 | 5.8 | -62.3* |
| October | 4.7 | 3.8 | 4.2 | |
| November | 4.5 | 4.4 | 0.2 | |
| December | 3.7 | 3.7 | 9.5 | |
| Annual | 3.0 | 4.9 | 4.3 |
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Domestic Market
* September 2020 data is preliminary
| 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2.1 | 1.0 | 4.5 | 1.9 |
| February | -1.2 | 4.6 | 3.4 | 0.7 |
| March | 0.4 | 7.2 | 3.1 | -53.3 |
| April | 9.8 | -1.0 | 4.3 | -98.6 |
| May | 5.4 | 2.3 | 5.3 | -98.1 |
| June | 5.3 | 3.4 | 4.2 | -96.4 |
| July | 4.6 | 1.6 | 2.2 | -90.4 |
| August | 4.9 | 2.0 | 3.9 | -87.5 |
| September | -1.1 | 5.9 | 4.6 | -83.6* |
| October | 3.2 | 4.3 | 3.2 | |
| November | 5.4 | 3.7 | 2.2 | |
| December | 1.7 | 3.2 | 3.6 | |
| Annual | 3.5 | 3.1 | 3.8 |
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 International Market
* September 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 U.S. airlines as of Nov. 9.
See the BTS Airlines and Airports page for additional U.S. airlines numbers through July for U.S. airlines. International data by origin and destination is available through April. Complete monthly data through August is scheduled for release tomorrow.
None of the data are from samples. Measures of statistical significance do not apply to the complete air traffic data.