11-Month Domestic Traffic Up 4.3 Percent From 2004

US airlines carried 4.3 percent more domestic passengers and flew slightly fewer domestic flights during the first 11 months of 2005 than they did during the same period in 2004, the US Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported Thursday, in a release of preliminary data.

BTS, a part of DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), reported that the airlines carried 606.4 million domestic passengers during the first 11 months of 2005, up from the 581.6 million carried between January and November 2004. The passengers were carried on 9,246,862 million flights, 1,140 fewer than the 9,248,002 million flights operated in 2004.

In other domestic comparisons from the first 11 months of 2004 to the first 11 months of 2005:

• Revenue passenger miles, a measure of the number of passengers and the distance flown, were up 4.7 percent.
• Available seat-miles, a measure of airline capacity using the number of seats and the distance flown, were up 1.1 percent.
• Passenger load factor, passengers carried as a proportion of available seats, was up 2.6 load factor points.
• Flight stage length, the average non-stop distance flown per departure, was up 2.0 percent.
• Passenger trip length, the average distance flown per passenger, was 867 miles per trip, up only slightly from 864 miles the first 11 months of 2004.
• Among airlines, Southwest Airlines carried 81.2 million domestic passengers during the first 11 months of 2005, the most of any airline.

• Among airports, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was the busiest US airport for domestic travel during the first 11 months of 2005, with 35.6 million passenger boardings.

November 2005 Airline Traffic

For the month of November 2005, US airlines carried 52.1 million domestic passengers, 0.2 percent more than in November 2004.

These passengers were carried on 775,059 flights, down 6.2 percent from the 826,353 flights operated in November 2004.

In other month-to-month domestic comparisons from November 2004 to November 2005:

• Revenue passenger miles, a measure of the number of passengers and the distance flown, were up 2.3 percent.
• Available seat-miles, a measure of airline capacity, were down 2.2 percent.
• Passenger load factor, passengers carried as a proportion of available seats, was up 3.3 load factor points.
• Flight stage length, the average non-stop distance flown per departure, was up 4.5 percent.
• Passenger trip length, the average distance flown per passenger, was up 2.1 percent.
• Among airlines, Southwest Airlines carried 7.4 million domestic passengers during November, the most of any airline.

• Among airports, Hartsfield-Jackson International in Atlanta was the busiest US airport for domestic travel in November with 3.0 million passenger boardings.

Data are compiled from monthly reports filed with BTS by commercial air carriers detailing operations, passenger traffic and freight traffic. November traffic data are preliminary and include data received by BTS from 130 airlines as of February 14. Data are subject to revision.

Revised data from October 2005 and previous months are posted on the BTS website.  BTS will release December traffic data, full year totals for 2005, and revised data from November and previous months on March 16.

FMI: http://transtats.bts.gov