Newsroom
86
Annual Rise in U.S. Airlines May Domestic Cargo (Almost 5%) Largest Increase Since July 2019
U.S. airlines carried 4.7% more domestic cargo by weight in May 2020 than in May 2019, the largest annual gain since July 2019 while the 8.4% decline in international cargo was the smallest annual loss since February, according to preliminary data filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) by 15 of the leading cargo airlines.
The 15 airlines carry more than 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.
May 2020 North American Transborder Freight Down 49% from May 2019
Transborder freight between the U.S. and other North American countries (Canada and Mexico) in May 2020:
Total Transborder freight: $56.1 billion of transborder freight moved by all modes of transportation, down 48.9% compared to May 2019. The $56.1 billion in total Transborder freight was the lowest amount since May 2009.
- Most-used mode: Trucks moved $39.1 billion of freight, down 43.2% compared to May 2019.
- Second most-used mode: Railways moved $5.5 billion of freight, down 66.3% compared to May 2019.
- Transborder freight value in May was down 3.5% from April and down 43.3% from March.
First Quarter 2020 Air Fare Drops to New Low
U.S. domestic average air fares declined in the first quarter of 2020 to $336, the lowest inflation-adjusted quarterly air fare on record in Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) records dating back to 1995. The previous low was $347 in the third quarter of 2019.
Adjusted for inflation, (constant 2020 dollars) the first-quarter 2020 air fare was:
- Down 6.0% from 1Q 2019 ($358)
- Down 6.1% from 4Q 2019 ($358)
- Down 21.6% from 1Q 2015 ($429)