BTS Releases February 2011 Airline Traffic Data; System Traffic Up 2.9 Percent from February 2010
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported in a release of preliminary data that U.S. airlines carried 50.1 million scheduled domestic and international passengers in February 2011. This is a 2.9 percent increase from February 2010 (Table 1). The February 2011 passenger total was also 0.6 percent above that of two years ago in February 2009 but still remained 12.3 percent below the early recession level of February 2008 (Table 2).
BTS, a part of DOT's Research and Innovative Technology Administration, also reported that U.S. airlines carried 2.9 percent more domestic passengers in February 2011 than in February 2010. The number of international passengers on U.S. carriers in February 2011 increased 2.9 percent over February 2010 (Tables 7, 13). The February 2011 domestic load factor of 78.0 percent was the highest recorded for any February (Tables 1, 7).
Additional traffic numbers can be found on the BTS website in the Airline Industry box. Click on a link in the column on the right. For more historic numbers, see Traffic on the BTS website.
See Air Traffic Release for summary tables and additional data.