BTS Releases October 2009 Airline Traffic Data;
System Traffic Down 1.4 Percent from October 2008
The number of scheduled domestic and international passengers on U.S. airlines in October 2009 decreased by 1.4 percent from October 2008, declining by 0.9 million to 58.8 million, the Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today reported. October marked the 18th month out of the last 19 months with a decrease in passengers from the previous year.
BTS, a part of DOT's Research and Innovative Technology Administration, in a release of preliminary data, reported that U.S. airlines carried 1.3 percent fewer domestic passengers than in October 2008. International passengers on U.S. carriers decreased 2.8 percent.
For the first 10 months of 2009, the number of scheduled domestic and international passengers on U.S. airlines declined by 6.3 percent from the same period in 2008, dropping to 592.1 million, 39.8 million fewer than a year earlier, and the lowest January-to-October total since 2004. For historic numbers, see Traffic.
U.S. airlines carried 6.2 percent fewer domestic passengers and 7.2 percent fewer international passengers in the first 10 months of 2009 than during the same period in 2008.
See BTS Air Traffic Release for summary tables and additional data.