The number of passengers flying on U.S. airlines fell 60% in 2020 as most travelers stayed home during the COVID-19 pandemic, new federal data show.
The passenger counts were at their lowest level since the mid-1980s, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The number of flights also dropped as airlines recorded the fewest since federal reporting began in 1987.
The nation’s airlines carried a total 369 million passengers last year, according to the federal data released Thursday. That’s down from 927 million passengers in 2019.
Credit: Source: U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics
Credit: Source: U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics
Domestic passenger counts were down 59%, while international passenger counts were down 70%. International traffic typically makes up about 12% of passengers on U.S. airlines. However, the data released Thursday does not include passengers on foreign carriers.
Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines — which, compared to some smaller carriers, has a greater share of the international and business travel — saw its passenger traffic decline by nearly 70%.
Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, where Delta has its largest hub, had a more than 60% decline in passenger counts in 2020.
Traffic levels nationally remained down 60% or more into the first few weeks of this year. However, passenger counts at airport security checkpoints in the past month have climbed above the 1 million mark on some days, according to data from the Transportation Security Administration.
A recovery in air traffic is “expected to accelerate heading into the summer months with greater vaccination rates and the release of pent-up travel demand,” according to a Thursday report by bond rating agency Fitch Ratings. Leisure travel will lead the recovery, particularly domestic travel, but it is expected to take years.
“We are forecasting a prolonged recovery for the air travel industry, with full recovery in the U.S. not expected until 2024 at the earliest,” the report said.
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