Shows A Record Number Of Passengers Traveling In 2016

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) has released a report showing U.S. airlines carried an all-time high number of passengers in 2016 – 823.0 million systemwide, 719.0 million domestic and 103.9 million international – surpassing the previous highs reached in 2015.

The airlines also set all-time annual highs for systemwide, domestic and international revenue passenger miles (RPMs) and available seat-miles (ASMs).

Although passenger trips handled by airlines reached an all-time high in 2016 there were more empty seats available because airlines expanded capacity at an even greater rate. Load factor – the measure of the use of airline capacity – declined from previous years.

The annual load factor declined from 2015 (83.8) to 2016 (83.4) because system capacity grew faster (3.9 percent increase in ASMs) than the growth in passenger travel.

Systemwide passenger enplanements (823.0 million) reached an all-time annual high, up 3.1 percent from the previous high (798.2 million) reached in 2015. Domestic passenger enplanements (719.0 million) reached an all-time annual high, up 3.3 percent from the previous high (696.0 million) reached in 2015. International passenger enplanements (103.9 million) reached an all-time annual high, up 1.7 percent from the previous high (102.2 million) reached in 2015.

Systemwide RPMs (933.5 billion) reached an all-time annual high, up 3.5 percent from the previous high (902.2 billion) reached in 2015. Domestic RPMs (660.0 billion) reached an all-time annual high, up 4.7 percent from the previous high (630.7 billion) reached in 2015. International RPMs (273.5 billion) reached an all-time annual high, up 0.7 percent from the previous high (271.6 billion) reached in 2015.

Systemwide ASMs (1,118.9 billion) reached an all-time annual high, up 3.9 percent from the previous high (1,077.0 billion) reached in 2015. Domestic ASMs (780.0 billion) reached an all-time annual high, up 5.1 percent from the previous high (741.9 billion) reached in 2015. International ASMs (338.9 billion) reached an all-time annual high, up 1.1 percent from the previous high (335.1 billion) reached in 2015.

Systemwide load factor (83.4) was down 0.4 points from the all-time annual high (83.8) reached in 2015. Domestic load factor (84.6) was down 0.4 points from the all-time annual high (85.0) reached in 2015. International load factor (80.7) was down 0.3 points from the 2015 load factor (81.0) and down 1.6 points from the all-time annual high (82.3) reached in 2013. Load factor is a measure of the use of aircraft capacity that compares the system use, measured in RPMs as a proportion of system capacity, measured in ASMs.

(Chart provided with DOT BTS news release)

FMI: www.bts.gov