BTS Releases September 2013 U.S. Airline Traffic Data;

Systemwide Passengers Up 0.9 Percent from September 2012

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today that U.S. airlines carried 58.0 million systemwide (domestic + international) scheduled service passengers in September 2013, 0.9 percent more than in September 2012. The systemwide total was the result of a 0.8 percent increase in the number of domestic passengers (50.5 million) and a 1.9 percent increase in international passengers (7.4 million) (Tables 1, 7, 13).

BTS, a part of the Department's Research and Innovative Technology Administration, reported that U.S. airlines carried 0.4 percent more total systemwide passengers during the first nine months of 2013 (560.6 million) than during the same period in 2012 (Table 2). Domestically, U.S. airlines carried 485.8 million passengers, up 0.1 percent from 2012 (Table 8). Internationally, they carried 74.8 million passengers, up 3.0 percent from 2012 (Table 14). See Tables 2, 8 and 14 of Air Traffic Press Releases for previous-year data.

Systemwide and domestic load factors rose in September 2013 from a year earlier but remained below the all-time September highs reached in 2011. In both cases, growth in Revenue Passenger-Miles (RPMs) exceeded growth in capacity, measured by Available Seat-Miles (ASMs). The September 2013 international load factor declined from September 2012 as capacity increased more than the growth in revenue passenger-miles (Tables 1, 7, 13). Load factor is a measure of the use of aircraft capacity that compares RPMs as a proportion of Available Seat-Miles ASMs.

Additional traffic data can be found on the BTS Airlines and Airports page. Click on a link in the Quick Links box on the right. For more historical data, see Traffic on the BTS website.

Top Airlines

Monthly: In September, Delta Air Lines carried more systemwide passengers than any other U.S. airline (Table 4). Southwest Airlines carried the most domestic passengers (Table 10) while United Airlines carried the most international passengers (Table 16). The top 10 U.S. airlines in terms of number of passengers carried 80.2 percent of systemwide passengers, unchanged from 80.2 percent carried by the U.S. airlines that were in the top 10 in September 2012.

Year-to-date: During the first nine months of 2013, Delta carried more systemwide passengers than any other U.S. airline (Table 3). Southwest carried the most domestic passengers (Table 9) while United carried the most international passengers (Table 15). The top 10 U.S. airlines carried 80.5 percent of systemwide passengers, up from 79.8 percent carried by the U.S. airlines that were in the top 10 during the first nine months of 2012.

Top Airports

Monthly: In September, more total systemwide and domestic passengers boarded planes at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International than at any other U.S. airport (Tables 6, 12); and more international passengers boarded U.S. carriers at New York JFK than at any other U.S. airport (Table 18).

Year-to-date: During the first nine months of 2013, more total systemwide and domestic passengers boarded planes at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson than at any other U.S. airport (Tables 5 and 11); and more international passengers boarded U.S. carriers at Miami than at any other U.S. airport (Table 17).

Reporting Notes

Data are compiled from monthly reports filed with BTS by commercial U.S. air carriers detailing operations, passenger traffic and freight traffic. This release includes data received by BTS from 69 carriers as of Dec. 2 for U.S. carrier scheduled civilian operations.

Southwest and AirTran Airways are reporting as separate carriers with the exception of their financial reports. They have one FAA SOC (single operating certificate), requiring that they utilize the same safety/operating procedures, but they have separate DOT 401 economic certificates, meaning they remain operating as separate economic entities.

Go to http://www.transtats.bts.gov/releaseinfo.asp for the complete list of reporting and non-reporting carriers. U.S. carriers' foreign point-to-point flights are included in system and international totals. To create a customized table for passengers, flights, RPMs, ASMs and other data, including non-scheduled service, go to http://apps.bts.gov/xml/air_traffic/src/index.xml#CustomizeTable

For additional scheduled service numbers for U.S. airlines, U.S. and foreign airlines, by airline and by airport, see Passengers, Flights, Revenue Passenger-Miles, Available Seat-Miles and Load Factor.

Traffic numbers are available on the BTS website at TranStats, the Intermodal Transportation Database, at http://transtats.bts.gov. Click on "Aviation." For systemwide passengers, RPMs and ASMs by carrier through September, click on "Air Carrier Summary Data (Form 41 and 298C Summary Data)," and then click on "Schedule T-1." Use crosstabs to find scheduled service.

For domestic numbers through September and international numbers through June by origin as well as by carrier, click on "Aviation," then click on "Air Carrier Statistics (Form 41 Traffic)." Click on "T-100 Market" for system passenger numbers, "T-100 Domestic Market" for domestic or "T-100 International Market" for international. For flights, stage length and trip length, use the appropriate T-100 Segment database. Use crosstabs to find scheduled service.

International totals in this press release consist of all U.S. carrier operations to and from the U.S. and from one foreign point to another foreign point. TranStats T-100 systemwide and international totals do not include U.S. carriers' foreign point-to-point flights. For September, U.S. carriers reported 172,950 foreign point-to-point passengers. For January through September, U.S. carriers reported 1,763,899 foreign point-to-point passengers.

Data are subject to revision. BTS has scheduled Jan. 16 for the release of October traffic data. None of the data are from samples so measures of statistical significance do not apply.

Table 1. Scheduled Systemwide (Domestic and International) Airline Travel on U.S. Airlines

	Monthly			Year-to-Date
	Sep 2012	Sep 2013	Change %	2012	2013	Change %
Passengers (in millions)	57.4	58.0	0.9	558.2	560.6	0.4
Flights (in thousands)	742.1	734.1	-1.1	7,055.6	6,915.8	-2.0
Revenue Passenger Miles (in billions)	65.2	66.4	1.8	626.9	637.8	1.7
Available Seat-Miles (in billions)	80.0	81.3	1.7	755.9	764.1	1.1
Load Factor*	81.6	81.7	0.1	82.9	83.5	0.5
Flight Stage Length**	754.0	768.6	1.9	755.4	771.1	2.1
Passenger Trip Length***	1,136.0	1,146.1	0.9	1,123.2	1,137.7	1.3
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Market and Segment
* Change in load factor points
** The average non-stop distance flown per departure in miles
*** The average distance flown per passenger in miles
Note: Percentage changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Table 2. Total Systemwide (Domestic and International) Scheduled Enplanements on U.S. Airlines

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

	2011	2012	2011-2012 Pct. Change	2013	2012-2013 Pct. Change
January	53.7	54.4	1.4	55.3	1.7
February	50.1	53.1	6.0	52.5	-1.2
March	63.6	64.5	1.4	65.1	1.0
April	60.5	61.5	1.6	61.0	-0.8
May	63.9	63.7	-0.3	64.8	1.7
June	66.2	66.6	0.6	67.1	0.7
July	69.9	69.2	-1.0	69.2	0.0
August	66.3	67.8	2.2	67.7	-0.1
September	58.1	57.4	-1.1	58.0	0.9
October	61.2	60.9	-0.4
November	58.3	58.7	0.8
December	59.1	58.9	-0.3
9 Mo. Total	552.3	558.2	1.1	560.6	0.4
Yr. Total	730.8	736.7	0.8
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Market
Note: Percentage changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Table 3. Top 10 U.S. Airlines, ranked by January-September 2013 Scheduled Systemwide (Domestic and International) Enplanements

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

Jan-Sep 2013 Rank	Carrier	Jan-Sep 2013 Enplaned Passengers	Jan-Sep 2012 Rank	Jan-Sep 2012 Enplaned Passengers	Pct. Change 2012-2013
1	Delta	91.114	1	88.146	3.4
2	Southwest**	86.027	2	84.441	1.9
3	United	68.249	3	70.864	-3.7
4	American	65.597	4	65.301	0.5
5	US Airways	43.060	5	40.906	5.3
6	ExpressJet	24.736	6	24.253	2.0
7	JetBlue	23.080	7	21.921	5.3
8	SkyWest	20.563	8	19.582	5.0
9	Alaska	14.947	11	13.990	6.8
10	AirTran	14.010	9	16.838	-16.8
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Market
* System equals domestic plus international
** The merged Southwest and AirTran are now reporting separately although operating under a single certificate.
Note: Percentage changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Table 4. Top 10 U.S. Airlines, ranked by September 2013 Scheduled Systemwide (Domestic and International) Enplanements

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

Sep 2013 Rank	Carrier	Sep 2013 Enplaned Passengers	Sep 2012 Rank	Sep 2012 Enplaned Passengers	Pct. Change 2012-2013
1	Delta	9.713	1	9.396	3.4
2	Southwest**	8.895	2	8.707	2.2
3	United	7.032	3	7.164	-1.8
4	American	6.639	4	6.561	1.2
5	US Airways	4.281	5	4.153	3.1
6	ExpressJet	2.679	6	2.671	0.3
7	JetBlue	2.179	7	2.159	0.9
8	SkyWest	2.135	8	2.153	-0.8
9	Alaska	1.542	11	1.458	5.8
10	American Eagle	1.422	10	1.528	-6.9
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Market
* System equals domestic plus international
** The merged Southwest and AirTran are now reporting separately although operating under a single certificate.
Note: Percentage changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Table 5. Top 10 U.S. Airports, ranked by January-September 2013 Scheduled Systemwide (Domestic and International) Enplanements on U.S. Airlines*

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

Jan-Sep 2013 Rank	Airport	Jan-Sep 2013 Enplaned Passengers	Jan-Sep 2012 Rank	Jan-Sep 2012 Enplaned Passengers	Pct. Change 2012-2013
1	Atlanta	33.574	1	34.004	-1.3
2	Chicago O'Hare	22.319	2	22.602	-1.3
3	Dallas/Fort Worth	21.481	3	20.625	4.2
4	Los Angeles	19.417	5	18.942	2.5
5	Denver	18.914	4	19.256	-1.8
6	Charlotte	15.940	6	14.921	6.8
7	Phoenix	14.413	7	14.494	-0.6
8	San Francisco	14.079	8	13.990	0.6
9	Las Vegas	13.859	9	13.912	-0.4
10	Houston Bush	13.441	10	13.742	-2.2
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Market
* System equals domestic plus international
Note: Percentage changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Table 6. Top 10 U.S. Airports, ranked by September 2013 Scheduled Systemwide (Domestic and International) Enplanements on U.S. Airlines*

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

Sep 2013 Rank	Airport	Sep 2013 Enplaned Passengers	Sep 2012 Rank	Sep 2012 Enplaned Passengers	Pct. Change 2012-2013
1	Atlanta	3.521	1	3.568	-1.3
2	Chicago O'Hare	2.493	2	2.463	1.3
3	Dallas/Fort Worth	2.235	3	2.156	3.7
4	Denver	2.092	4	2.110	-0.9
5	Los Angeles	2.010	5	1.951	3.0
6	Charlotte	1.813	6	1.558	16.3
7	San Francisco	1.566	7	1.551	1.0
8	Las Vegas	1.520	8	1.501	1.3
9	Phoenix	1.392	9	1.386	0.4
10	Seattle	1.351	12	1.309	3.2
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Market
* System equals domestic plus international
Note: Percentage changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Table 7. Domestic Scheduled Airline Travel on U.S. Airlines

	Monthly			Year-to-Date
	Sep 2012	Sep 2013	Change %	2012	2013	Change %
Passengers (in millions)	50.1	50.5	0.8	485.5	485.8	0.1
Flights (in thousands)	678.0	670.9	-1.1	6,410.1	6,269.8	-2.2
Revenue Passenger Miles (in billions)	43.9	44.5	1.5	431.1	436.3	1.2
Available Seat-Miles (in billions)	54.4	55.0	1.1	516.0	520.9	1.0
Load Factor*	80.6	80.9	0.3	83.5	83.8	0.2
Flight Stage Length**	641.2	652.4	1.7	645.7	658.4	2.0
Passenger Trip Length***	874.9	880.7	0.7	887.9	898.1	1.2
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Domestic Market and Segment
* Change in load factor points
** The average non-stop distance flown per departure in miles
*** The average distance flown per passenger in miles
Note: Percentage changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Table 8. Domestic Scheduled Enplanements on U.S. Airlines

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

	2011	2012	2011-2012 Pct. Change	2013	2012-2013 Pct. Change
January	46.3	47.1	1.7	47.8	1.6
February	43.7	46.4	6.3	45.7	-1.4
March	55.6	56.2	1.0	56.6	0.6
April	52.9	53.7	1.6	53.2	-0.9
May	56.0	55.7	-0.4	56.6	1.4
June	57.8	57.9	0.2	58.0	0.1
July	60.3	59.7	-1.0	59.3	-0.7
August	57.4	58.6	2.2	58.1	-0.9
September	51.0	50.1	-1.7	50.5	0.8
October	54.1	53.8	-0.6
November	51.7	51.8	0.4
December	51.5	51.2	-0.7
9 Mo. Total	480.9	485.5	1.0	485.8	0.1
Yr. Total	638.2	642.3	0.6
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Domestic Market
Note: Percentage changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Table 9. Top 10 U.S. Airlines, ranked by January-September 2013 Domestic Scheduled Enplanements

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

Jan-Sep 2013 Rank	Carrier	Jan-Sep 2013 Enplaned Passengers	Jan-Sep 2012 Rank	Jan-Sep 2012 Enplaned Passengers	Pct. Change 2012-2013
1	Southwest**	86.027	1	84.441	1.9
2	Delta	74.126	2	71.860	3.2
3	American	49.096	4	49.107	0.0
4	United	48.961	3	51.571	-5.1
5	US Airways	37.520	5	35.547	5.5
6	ExpressJet	22.469	6	22.235	1.1
7	JetBlue	19.594	7	18.796	4.2
8	SkyWest	19.363	8	18.603	4.1
9	Alaska	13.576	11	12.672	7.1
10	AirTran	12.708	9	15.866	-19.9
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Domestic Market
** The merged Southwest and AirTran are now reporting separately although operating under a single certificate.
Note: Percentage changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Table 10. Top 10 U.S. Airlines, ranked by September 2013 Domestic Scheduled Enplanements

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

Sep 2013 Rank	Carrier	Sep 2013 Enplaned Passengers	Sep 2012 Rank	Sep 2012 Enplaned Passengers	Pct. Change 2012-2013
1	Southwest**	8.895	1	8.707	2.2
2	Delta	7.856	2	7.651	2.7
3	United	5.097	3	5.253	-3.0
4	American	5.004	4	4.928	1.6
5	US Airways	3.816	5	3.673	3.9
6	ExpressJet	2.425	6	2.420	0.2
7	SkyWest	2.010	7	2.055	-2.2
8	JetBlue	1.870	8	1.863	0.4
9	Alaska	1.424	11	1.349	5.5
10	American Eagle	1.298	10	1.424	-8.8
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Domestic Market
** The merged Southwest and AirTran are now reporting separately although operating under a single certificate.
Note: Percentage changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Table 11. Top 10 U.S. Airports, ranked by January-September 2013 Domestic Scheduled Enplanements

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

Jan-Sep 2013 Rank	Airport	Jan-Sep 2013 Enplaned Passengers	Jan-Sep 2012 Rank	Jan-Sep 2012 Enplaned Passengers	Pct. Change 2012-2013
1	Atlanta	30.292	1	30.810	-1.7
2	Chicago O'Hare	20.074	2	20.410	-1.6
3	Dallas/Fort Worth	19.475	3	18.809	3.5
4	Denver	18.417	4	18.802	-2.0
5	Los Angeles	17.909	5	17.473	2.5
6	Charlotte	14.822	8	13.851	7.0
7	Phoenix	13.871	6	13.928	-0.4
8	Las Vegas	13.850	7	13.902	-0.4
9	San Francisco	12.652	9	12.608	0.3
10	Minneapolis	11.417	11	11.275	1.3
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Domestic Market
Note: Percentage changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Table 12. Top 10 U.S. Airports, ranked by September 2013 Domestic Scheduled Enplanements

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

Sep 2013 Rank	Airport	Sep 2013 Enplaned Passengers	Sep 2012 Rank	Sep 2012 Enplaned Passengers	Pct. Change 2012-2013
1	Atlanta	3.206	1	3.252	-1.4
2	Chicago O'Hare	2.242	2	2.222	0.9
3	Denver	2.047	3	2.073	-1.3
4	Dallas/Fort Worth	2.039	4	1.973	3.4
5	Los Angeles	1.858	5	1.808	2.8
6	Charlotte	1.721	7	1.470	17.1
7	Las Vegas	1.519	6	1.501	1.2
8	San Francisco	1.403	8	1.399	0.3
9	Phoenix	1.359	9	1.344	1.1
10	Seattle	1.266	10	1.237	2.3
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Domestic Market
Note: Percentage changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Table 13. International Scheduled Airline Travel on U.S. Airlines

	Monthly			Year-to-Date
	Sep 2012	Sep 2013	Change %	2012	2013	Change %
Passengers (in millions)	7.3	7.4	1.9	72.7	74.8	3.0
Flights (in thousands)	64.1	63.2	-1.4	645.5	646.0	0.1
Revenue Passenger Miles (in billions)	21.4	21.9	2.6	195.9	201.5	2.9
Available Seat-Miles (in billions)	25.6	26.3	2.9	239.9	243.2	1.4
Load Factor*	83.6	83.3	-0.3	81.6	82.9	1.2
Flight Stage Length**	1,946.5	2,001.3	2.8	1,845.0	1,864.5	1.1
Passenger Trip Length***	2,932.8	2,953.3	0.7	2,695.6	2,693.2	-0.1
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 International Market and Segment
* Change in load factor points
** The average non-stop distance flown per departure in miles
*** The average distance flown per passenger in miles
Note: Percentage changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Table 14. International Scheduled Enplanements on U.S. Airlines

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

	2011	2012	2011-2012 Pct. Change	2013	2012-2013 Pct. Change
January	7.4	7.4	-0.3	7.5	2.3
February	6.4	6.7	4.4	6.8	0.8
March	7.9	8.3	4.2	8.5	3.3
April	7.7	7.8	1.7	7.8	-0.6
May	7.9	7.9	0.7	8.2	3.7
June	8.5	8.7	2.8	9.1	4.3
July	9.6	9.5	-1.0	9.9	4.3
August	8.9	9.1	2.4	9.6	5.5
September	7.1	7.3	2.8	7.4	1.9
October	7.1	7.2	1.0
November	6.6	6.9	4.3
December	7.5	7.7	2.3
9 Mo. Total	71.3	72.7	1.9	74.8	3.0
Yr. Total	92.5	94.4	2.0
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 International Market
Note: Percentage changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Table 15. Top 10 U.S. Airlines, ranked by January-September 2013 International Scheduled Enplanements

Passenger numbers in thousands (000)

Jan-Sep 2013 Rank	Carrier	Jan-Sep 2013 Enplaned Passengers	Jan-Sep 2012 Rank	Jan-Sep 2012 Enplaned Passengers	Pct. Change 2012-2013
1	United	19,288.0	1	19,292.2	0.0
2	Delta	16,987.6	2	16,286.1	4.3
3	American	16,501.4	3	16,193.9	1.9
4	US Airways	5,539.8	4	5,358.0	3.4
5	JetBlue	3,486.7	5	3,125.1	11.6
6	ExpressJet	2,267.0	6	2,018.1	12.3
7	Alaska	1,370.9	7	1,317.7	4.0
8	American Eagle	1,313.4	10	961.3	36.6
9	AirTran	1,301.9	9	972.4	33.9
10	SkyWest	1,200.5	8	978.6	22.7
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 International Market
Note: Percentage changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Table 16. Top 10 U.S. Airlines, ranked by September 2013 International Scheduled Enplanements

Passenger numbers in thousands (000)

Sep 2013 Rank	Carrier	Sep 2013 Enplaned Passengers	Sep 2012 Rank	Sep 2012 Enplaned Passengers	Pct. Change 2012-2013
1	United	1,935.0	1	1,911.2	1.2
2	Delta	1,857.3	2	1,744.9	6.4
3	American	1,634.3	3	1,632.8	0.1
4	US Airways	465.7	4	480.4	-3.0
5	JetBlue	309.3	5	295.7	4.6
6	ExpressJet	254.3	6	251.3	1.2
7	SkyWest	125.0	9	98.6	26.7
8	American Eagle	124.5	8	104.1	19.6
9	Alaska	118.2	7	108.9	8.5
10	AirTran	109.1	10	94.5	15.4
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 International Market
Note: Percentage changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Note: For previous rankings see BTS Air Traffic Press Releases

Table 17. Top 10 U.S. Airports, ranked by January-September 2012 International Scheduled Enplanements on U.S. Airlines*

Passenger numbers in thousands (000)

Jan-Sep 2013 Rank	Airport	Jan-Sep 2013 Enplaned Passengers	Jan-Sep 2012 Rank	Jan-Sep 2012 Enplaned Passengers	Pct. Change 2012-2013
1	Miami	4,380.7	1	4,264.8	2.7
2	New York JFK	3,864.2	2	3,806.1	1.5
3	Atlanta	3,282.2	3	3,193.4	2.8
4	Newark	3,052.1	4	3,035.2	0.6
5	Houston Bush	2,531.2	5	2,562.3	-1.2
6	Chicago O'Hare	2,245.4	6	2,192.0	2.4
7	Dallas/Fort Worth	2,005.7	7	1,815.5	10.5
8	Los Angeles	1,507.9	8	1,468.8	2.7
9	San Francisco	1,426.7	9	1,381.4	3.3
10	Philadelphia	1,357.8	10	1,290.8	5.2
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 International Market
Note: Percentage changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Table 18. Top 10 U.S. Airports, ranked by September 2013 International Scheduled Enplanements on U.S. Airlines*

Passenger numbers in thousands (000)

Sep 2013 Rank	Airport	Sep 2013 Enplaned Passengers	Sep 2012 Rank	Sep 2012 Enplaned Passengers	Pct. Change 2012-2013
1	New York JFK	409.3	1	404.7	1.1
2	Miami	400.0	2	397.2	0.7
3	Atlanta	314.4	3	316.3	-0.6
4	Newark	307.8	4	291.0	5.8
5	Chicago O'Hare	251.9	5	240.7	4.6
6	Houston Bush	217.1	6	221.5	-2.0
7	Dallas/Fort Worth	196.1	7	182.9	7.2
8	San Francisco	163.2	8	152.5	7.1
9	Los Angeles	151.8	9	143.6	5.8
10	Philadelphia	139.8	10	137.4	1.8
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 International Market
Note: Percentage changes based on numbers prior to rounding.