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

Systemwide Passengers Up 6.1 Percent from December 2012

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported this week that U.S. airlines carried 62.5 million systemwide (domestic + international) scheduled service passengers in December 2013, 6.1 percent more than in December 2012. The systemwide total was the result of a 6.2 percent increase in the number of domestic passengers (54.3 million) and a 5.9 percent increase in international passengers (8.2 million) (Tables 1, 7, 13).

For the full year 2013, U.S. airlines carried 0.9 percent more total systemwide passengers (743.1 million) than during the same period in 2012 (Table 2) for the highest annual total since 2008. Domestically, U.S. airlines carried 645.6 million passengers, up 0.5 percent from 2012 (Table 8). Internationally, they carried 97.5 million passengers, up 3.3 percent from 2012 (Table 14). See Tables 2, 8 and 14 of Air Traffic Press Releases for previous-year data.

The December 2013 systemwide load factor (84.4 percent), the domestic load factor (85.1) and the international load factor (82.9) were all record highs for the month of December as year-over-year growth in revenue passenger-miles (RPMs) grew faster than both domestic and international capacity expansion, measured by available seat-miles (ASMs) (Tables 1, 7, 13). Load factor is a measure of the use of aircraft capacity that compares RPMs as a proportion of ASMs.

The full year 2013 systemwide load factor (83.1 percent), the domestic load factor (83.5) and the international load factor (82.3) were all record annual highs as year-over-year RPM growth exceeded both domestic and international capacity expansion (Tables 1, 7, 13).

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 December, Southwest Airlines carried more systemwide and domestic passengers than any other U.S. airline (Tables 4, 10). United Airlines carried the most international passengers (Table 16). The top 10 U.S. airlines carried 80.7 percent of systemwide passengers, up from 80.3 percent carried by the U.S. airlines that were in the top 10 in December 2012.

Annual: During 2013, Delta carried more systemwide passengers than any other U.S. airline for the fourth consecutive year (Table 3). Southwest carried the most domestic passengers for the 10th consecutive year (Table 9) while United carried the most international passengers for the second consecutive year (Table 15). The top 10 U.S. airlines carried 80.4 percent of systemwide passengers, up from 80.0 percent carried by the U.S. airlines that were in the top 10 during 2012.

Top Airports

Monthly: In December, 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 Miami than at any other U.S. airport (Table 18).

Annual: During 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 75 carriers as of March 4 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 December, 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 December and international numbers through September 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 December, U.S. carriers reported 192,216 foreign point-to-point passengers. For January through December, U.S. carriers reported 2,309,413 foreign point-to-point passengers.

Data are subject to revision. BTS has scheduled April 10 for the release of January 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			Annual
	Dec 2012	Dec 2013	Change %	2012	2013	Change %
Passengers (in millions)	58.9	62.5	6.1	736.7	743.1	0.9
Flights (in thousands)	740.2	729.9	-1.4	9,287.4	9,158.7	-1.4
Revenue Passenger Miles (in billions)	65.9	70.4	6.7	823.2	840.4	2.1
Available Seat-Miles (in billions)	80.9	83.4	3.0	994.5	1,011.2	1.7
Load Factor*	81.5	84.4	3.0	82.8	83.1	0.3
Flight Stage Length**	768.5	791.8	3.0	755.0	770.3	2.0
Passenger Trip Length***	1,119.8	1,126.3	0.6	1,117.4	1,131.0	1.2
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	0.0
September	58.1	57.4	-1.1	58.2	1.3
October	61.2	60.9	-0.4	62.1	2.0
November	58.3	58.7	0.8	57.6	-2.0
December	59.1	58.9	-0.3	62.5	6.1
Yr. Total	730.8	736.7	0.8	743.1	0.9
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-December 2013 Scheduled Systemwide (Domestic and International) Enplanements

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

2013 Rank	Carrier	2013 Enplaned Passengers	2012 Rank	2012 Enplaned Passengers	Pct. Change 2012-2013
1	Delta	120.389	1	116.445	3.4
2	Southwest**	115.323	2	112.234	2.8
3	United	90.113	3	92.367	-2.4
4	American	86.823	4	86.335	0.6
5	US Airways	57.007	5	54.238	5.1
6	ExpressJet	32.957	6	32.376	1.8
7	JetBlue	30.428	7	28.934	5.2
8	SkyWest	27.139	8	26.163	3.7
9	Alaska	19.700	11	18.495	6.5
10	AirTran	17.817	9	21.745	-18.1
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 December 2013 Scheduled Systemwide (Domestic and International) Enplanements

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

Dec 2013 Rank	Carrier	Dec 2013 Enplaned Passengers	Dec 2012 Rank	Dec 2012 Enplaned Passengers	Pct. Change 2012-2013
1	Southwest**	10.248	1	9.040	13.4
2	Delta	9.867	2	8.980	9.9
3	United	7.545	3	7.224	4.4
4	American	7.330	4	7.206	1.7
5	US Airways	4.795	5	4.398	9.0
6	JetBlue	2.704	7	2.480	9.0
7	ExpressJet	2.675	6	2.603	2.8
8	SkyWest	2.224	8	2.168	2.6
9	Alaska	1.670	10	1.546	8.0
10	American Eagle	1.368	11	1.477	-7.4
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-December 2013 Scheduled Systemwide (Domestic and International) Enplanements on U.S. Airlines*

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

2013 Rank	Airport	2013 Enplaned Passengers	2012 Rank	2012 Enplaned Passengers	Pct. Change 2012-2013
1	Atlanta	44.641	1	45.107	-1.0
2	Chicago O'Hare	29.882	2	29.884	0.0
3	Dallas/Fort Worth	28.472	3	27.528	3.4
4	Los Angeles	25.838	5	24.952	3.6
5	Denver	25.158	4	25.490	-1.3
6	Charlotte	21.228	6	19.913	6.6
7	Phoenix	19.138	7	19.203	-0.3
8	San Francisco	18.843	8	18.556	1.5
9	Las Vegas	18.414	9	18.395	0.1
10	Houston Bush	17.903	10	18.116	-1.2
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 December 2013 Scheduled Systemwide (Domestic and International) Enplanements on U.S. Airlines*

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

Dec 2013 Rank	Airport	Dec 2013 Enplaned Passengers	Dec 2012 Rank	Dec 2012 Enplaned Passengers	Pct. Change 2012-2013
1	Atlanta	3.736	1	3.542	5.5
2	Chicago O'Hare	2.470	3	2.302	7.3
3	Dallas/Fort Worth	2.304	2	2.311	-0.3
4	Los Angeles	2.268	5	2.021	12.2
5	Denver	2.140	4	2.048	4.5
6	Charlotte	1.827	6	1.644	11.2
7	Phoenix	1.662	7	1.556	6.8
8	San Francisco	1.625	9	1.480	9.8
9	Houston Bush	1.592	8	1.497	6.3
10	New York JFK	1.487	10	1.426	4.3
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			Annual
	Dec 2012	Dec 2013	Change %	2012	2013	Change %
Passengers (in millions)	51.2	54.3	6.2	642.3	645.6	0.5
Flights (in thousands)	670.8	659.5	-1.7	8,444.8	8,311.9	-1.6
Revenue Passenger Miles (in billions)	45.8	49.1	7.2	568.7	577.9	1.6
Available Seat-Miles (in billions)	56.2	57.7	2.8	682.0	692.2	1.5
Load Factor*	81.6	85.1	3.5	83.4	83.5	0.1
Flight Stage Length**	662.9	682.4	2.9	646.6	658.9	1.9
Passenger Trip Length***	895.5	904.4	1.0	885.4	895.1	1.1
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	-0.6
August	57.4	58.6	2.2	58.1	-0.9
September	51.0	50.1	-1.7	50.8	1.3
October	54.1	53.8	-0.6	54.7	1.7
November	51.7	51.8	0.4	50.5	-2.5
December	51.5	51.2	-0.7	54.3	6.2
Yr. Total	638.2	642.3	0.6	645.6	0.5
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-December 2013 Domestic Scheduled Enplanements

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

2013 Rank	Carrier	2013 Enplaned Passengers	2012 Rank	2012 Enplaned Passengers	Pct. Change 2012-2013
1	Southwest**	115.323	1	112.234	2.8
2	Delta	98.372	2	95.439	3.1
3	United	65.113	3	67.534	-3.6
4	American	65.052	4	65.010	0.1
5	US Airways	49.999	5	47.443	5.4
6	ExpressJet	29.890	6	29.652	0.8
7	JetBlue	25.838	7	24.871	3.9
8	SkyWest	25.529	8	24.869	2.7
9	Alaska	17.867	11	16.747	6.7
10	AirTran	16.136	9	20.443	-21.1
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 December 2013 Domestic Scheduled Enplanements

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

Dec 2013 Rank	Carrier	Dec 2013 Enplaned Passengers	Dec 2012 Rank	Dec 2012 Enplaned Passengers	Pct. Change 2012-2013
1	Southwest**	10.248	1	9.040	13.4
2	Delta	8.089	2	7.328	10.4
3	United	5.505	4	5.247	4.9
4	American	5.379	3	5.377	0.0
5	US Airways	4.269	5	3.887	9.8
6	ExpressJet	2.410	6	2.369	1.8
7	JetBlue	2.253	7	2.124	6.1
8	SkyWest	2.091	8	2.063	1.4
9	Alaska	1.501	10	1.385	8.4
10	American Eagle	1.237	11	1.327	-6.7
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-December 2013 Domestic Scheduled Enplanements

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

2013 Rank	Airport	2013 Enplaned Passengers	2012 Rank	2012 Enplaned Passengers	Pct. Change 2012-2013
1	Atlanta	40.329	1	40.937	-1.5
2	Chicago O'Hare	26.951	2	27.008	-0.2
3	Dallas/Fort Worth	25.806	3	25.103	2.8
4	Denver	24.503	4	24.906	-1.6
5	Los Angeles	23.819	5	23.020	3.5
6	Charlotte	19.826	6	18.568	6.8
7	Phoenix	18.410	7	18.439	-0.2
8	Las Vegas	18.401	8	18.381	0.1
9	San Francisco	16.965	9	16.737	1.4
10	Minneapolis	15.114	11	14.835	1.9
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 December 2013 Domestic Scheduled Enplanements

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

Dec 2013 Rank	Airport	Dec 2013 Enplaned Passengers	Dec 2012 Rank	Dec 2012 Enplaned Passengers	Pct. Change 2012-2013
1	Atlanta	3.352	1	3.185	5.2
2	Chicago O'Hare	2.233	3	2.076	7.5
3	Los Angeles	2.084	5	1.852	12.5
4	Denver	2.080	4	1.996	4.2
5	Dallas/Fort Worth	2.065	2	2.090	-1.2
6	Charlotte	1.720	6	1.541	11.6
7	Phoenix	1.588	7	1.483	7.1
8	San Francisco	1.472	9	1.331	10.6
9	Las Vegas	1.434	8	1.388	3.3
10	Houston Bush	1.276	11	1.196	6.8
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			Annual
	Dec 2012	Dec 2013	Change %	2012	2013	Change %
Passengers (in millions)	7.7	8.2	5.9	94.4	97.5	3.3
Flights (in thousands)	69.4	70.4	1.5	842.6	846.8	0.5
Revenue Passenger Miles (in billions)	20.1	21.2	5.6	254.5	262.5	3.2
Available Seat-Miles (in billions)	24.8	25.6	3.5	312.5	318.9	2.1
Load Factor*	81.2	82.9	1.7	81.4	82.3	0.9
Flight Stage Length**	1,788.5	1,816.4	1.6	1,841.3	1,864.1	1.2
Passenger Trip Length***	2,608.9	2,603.3	-0.2	2,695.7	2,693.1	-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	7.5	4.2
November	6.6	6.9	4.3	7.1	2.3
December	7.5	7.7	2.3	8.2	5.9
Yr. Total	92.5	94.4	2.0	97.5	3.3
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-December 2013 International Scheduled Enplanements

Passenger numbers in thousands (000)

2013 Rank	Carrier	2013 Enplaned Passengers	2012 Rank	2012 Enplaned Passengers	Pct. Change 2012-2013
1	United	24,999.4	1	24,833.7	0.7
2	Delta	22,016.9	3	21,006.4	4.8
3	American	21,770.3	2	21,325.5	2.1
4	US Airways	7,008.1	4	6,795.5	3.1
5	JetBlue	4,589.1	5	4,063.7	12.9
6	ExpressJet	3,066.6	6	2,724.1	12.6
7	Alaska	1,832.8	7	1,747.2	4.9
8	American Eagle	1,689.8	8	1,347.9	25.4
9	AirTran	1,681.9	9	1,301.3	29.2
10	SkyWest	1,610.0	10	1,293.8	24.4
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 December 2013 International Scheduled Enplanements

Passenger numbers in thousands (000)

Dec 2013 Rank	Carrier	Dec 2013 Enplaned Passengers	Dec 2012 Rank	Dec 2012 Enplaned Passengers	Pct. Change 2012-2013
1	United	2,039.7	1	1,977.0	3.2
2	American	1,950.6	2	1,829.1	6.6
3	Delta	1,777.8	3	1,652.1	7.6
4	US Airways	526.6	4	511.8	2.9
5	JetBlue	451.3	5	355.6	26.9
6	ExpressJet	264.4	6	234.4	12.8
7	Alaska	168.5	7	161.3	4.4
8	AirTran	147.4	9	120.6	22.2
9	SkyWest	132.9	11	105.0	26.6
10	American Eagle	130.7	8	150.4	-13.1
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 International Market
Note: Percentage changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

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

Passenger numbers in thousands (000)

2013 Rank	Airport	2013 Enplaned Passengers	2012 Rank	2012 Enplaned Passengers	Pct. Change 2012-2013
1	Miami	5,815.5	1	5,644.5	3.0
2	New York JFK	5,056.6	2	4,932.8	2.5
3	Atlanta	4,312.3	3	4,169.7	3.4
4	Newark	3,944.7	4	3,893.7	1.3
5	Houston Bush	3,345.3	5	3,344.5	0.0
6	Chicago O'Hare	2,931.4	6	2,875.9	1.9
7	Dallas/Fort Worth	2,666.6	7	2,424.6	10.0
8	Los Angeles	2,019.2	8	1,932.4	4.5
9	San Francisco	1,878.5	9	1,818.8	3.3
10	Philadelphia	1,716.4	10	1,632.1	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 December 2013 International Scheduled Enplanements on U.S. Airlines*

Passenger numbers in thousands (000)

Dec 2013 Rank	Airport	Dec 2013 Enplaned Passengers	Dec 2012 Rank	Dec 2012 Enplaned Passengers	Pct. Change 2012-2013
1	Miami	557.8	1	507.6	9.9
2	New York JFK	449.3	2	416.0	8.0
3	Atlanta	384.7	3	357.0	7.8
4	Houston Bush	315.2	5	301.3	4.6
5	Newark	313.7	4	312.0	0.5
6	Dallas/Fort Worth	238.4	7	221.3	7.8
7	Chicago O'Hare	237.3	6	225.5	5.3
8	Los Angeles	184.0	8	169.3	8.7
9	San Francisco	153.1	9	148.3	3.2
10	Detroit Metro	121.1	12	114.9	5.4
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 International Market
Note: Percentage changes based on numbers prior to rounding.