BTS, a part of DOT�s Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), reported that the airlines carried 745.7 million passengers on their total systems during 2005, up from the 712.6 million carried in 2004.  During the first nine months of 2005, U.S. airlines carried 5.9 percent more passengers than in the same period in 2004 while in the last three months they carried 0.7 percent more passengers than in 2004 (Table 2).

The passengers were carried on 11.0 million flights, up 1.0 percent from the 10.9 million flights operated in 2004 (Table 1).

In other total system comparisons from 2004 to 2005 (Table 1):

• Revenue passenger miles, a measure of the number of passengers and the distance flown, were up 5.7 percent.
• Available seat-miles, a measure of airline capacity using the number of seats and the distance flown, were up 2.9 percent.
• Passenger load factor, passengers carried as a proportion of available seats, was up 2.1 load factor points.
• Flight stage length, the average non-stop distance flown per departure, was up 2.1 percent.
• Passenger trip length, the average distance flown per passenger, was up 1.0 percent.

Among airports, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was the busiest U.S. airport during 2005, with 41.6 million domestic and international passenger boardings.  Houston Bush Intercontinental was the fastest growing of the top 10 airports, with 9.9 percent more passenger boardings in 2005 than 2004, while Dallas-Fort Worth International, down 0.1 percent, was the only one of the top 10 airports with fewer boardings in 2005 than 2004 (Table 4).

Additional airline traffic data can be found on the BTS website at TranStats, the Intermodal Transportation Database at transtats.bts.gov.  Click on �Aviation,� then on �Air Carrier Statistics (Form 41 Traffic),� then click on �T-100 Domestic Market.�

Data are compiled from monthly reports filed with BTS by commercial air carriers detailing operations, passenger traffic and freight traffic. This release includes data received by BTS from 149 airlines as of April 18, 2006.  Data are subject to revision.

Domestic traffic numbers through January 2006 and international traffic numbers through October 2005 are available on the BTS website at transtats.bts.gov. The BTS press release on 2005 domestic airline traffic can be found at www.bts.gov/press_releases/2006/bts013_06/html/bts013_06.html.

Table 1: Total System (Domestic and Foreign) Airline Travel on U.S. Carriers   2004 2005 Change Passengers (in millions) 712.6 745.7 4.6% Flights (in thousands) 10.9 11.0 1.0% Revenue Passenger Miles(in billions)  745.3 788.0 5.7% Available Seat-Miles(in billions) 987.9 1,016.4 2.9% Load factor 75.4 77.5 2.1 points Flight stage length* 664 678 2.1% Passenger trip length** 1,046 1,057 1.0% Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Market and Segment *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 Industry (Domestic and Foreign) Enplanements on U.S. Carriers Passenger numbers in millions (000,000) Month 2003 2004 2005 2004-2005 Pct. Change January 48.9 50.2 55.1 9.6 February 46.3 51.4 53.5 4.1 March 56.2 61.3 66.9 9.2 April 52.2 60.1 62.2 3.6 May 54.5 59.8 64.7 8.2 June 58.5 64.5 67.8 5.2 July 63.0 68.0 71.3 4.9 August 61.2 65.4 67.4 3.1 September 49.9 53.8 57.3 6.5 October 55.8 60.7 60.4 -0.5 November 52.9 57.9 59.1 2.1 December 56.1 59.5 59.9 0.6 Annual Total 655.4 712.6 745.7 4.6 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 2005 System* Enplanements Passenger numbers in millions (000,000) 2005 Rank Carrier 2005 Passengers 2004 Rank 2004 Passengers Pct Change 2004-2005 1 American 98.096 1 91.610 7.1 2 Southwest 88.436 3 81.121 9.0 3 Delta 86.090 2 86.891 -0.9 4 United 66.765 4 70.822 -5.7 5 Northwest 56.514 5 55.410 2.0 6 Continental 42.806 7 40.732 5.1 7 US Airways 41.869 6 42.408 -1.3 8 America West 22.130 8 21.132 4.7 9 American Eagle 17.534 10 14.869 17.9 10 Alaska 16.758 9 16.294 2.9 Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Market * System equals domestic plus international Note: Percentage changes based on numbers prior to rounding. Table 4: Top 10 U.S. Airports ranked by 2005 System* Enplanements Passenger numbers in millions (000,000) 2005 Rank Airport Name 2005 Passengers 2004 Rank 2004 Passengers Pct. Change 2004-2005 1 Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta 41.596 1 40.367 3.0 2 Chicago O'Hare 34.529 2 33.862 2.0 3 Dallas-Ft. Worth 27.746 3 27.787 -0.1 4 Los Angeles Int'l 22.939 4 22.859 0.4 5 Las Vegas McCarran 20.711 6 19.416 6.7 6 Denver 20.484 5 20.104 1.9 7 Phoenix Sky Harbor 20.110 7 19.158 5.0 8 Houston Bush Inter'l 18.409 10 16.749 9.9 9 Minneapolis-St.Paul 17.910 8 17.366 3.1 10 Detroit Metro 17.392 9 16.892 3.0 Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Market * System equals domestic plus international Note: Percentage changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

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