May 2024 U.S. Airline Traffic Data Up 6.4% from the Same Month Last Year

Thursday, August 15, 2024

BTS 39-24

May_2024_Passenger_Emplanements_Domestic_International_Infographic

U.S. airlines carried 87.1 million systemwide (domestic and international) scheduled service passengers in May 2024, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). When adjusted for seasonality, May enplanements are down 0.5% from April and down 2.3% from the all-time high reached in February 2024.

BTS reported 75.8 million domestic passengers and 11.3 million international passengers on U.S. airlines flights in May, not adjusting for seasonality.

U.S. airline traffic reports are filed monthly with BTS. See the tables that accompany this release on the BTS website for summary data since 2016 (Tables 1-24) and complete data since 2000.

Two measures of U.S. airlines passenger enplanements

May seasonally adjusted

Systemwide enplanements (80.4M) were down 2.3% from the all-time high of 82.3 million reached in February 2024.
Domestic enplanements (69.7M) were down 2% from the all-time high of 71.1 million reached in November 2023.
International enplanements (10.64M) were down 4.5% from the all-time high of 11.15 million reached in February 2024.

May unadjusted

Systemwide enplanements (87.1M) reached a new all-time high for the month of May.
Domestic enplanements (75.8M) reached a new all-time high for the month of May.
International enplanements (11.25M) reached a new all-time high for the month of May.

Monthly Passengers on U.S. Scheduled Airlines (Domestic + International), May 2021 - May 2024 Line chart

Table A. Seasonally Adjusted Passenger Enplanements Compared to Previous Time Periods

		Percent Change Compared to
Seasonally Adjusted	Passengers (in millions)	Previous Month	Previous Year	Three Years Previous
May	80.4	-0.5%	4.9%	46.3%

Table B. Unadjusted Passenger Enplanements Compared to Previous Time Periods

		Percent Change Compared to
Unadjusted	Passengers (in millions)	Previous Year	Two Years Previous	Three Years Previous
May	87.1	6.4%	14.9%	50.9%

For data filed through May, see accompanying tables. For the complete database of reported data, see Traffic. For an explanation of BTS' seasonal adjustment methodology, see Seasonal Adjustment.

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 77 U.S. carriers as of August 7 for U.S. carrier scheduled civilian operations.

See the BTS Airlines and Airports page for additional scheduled service numbers through May for U.S. airlines. International data by origin and destination is available through February. 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. BTS' Airlines and Airports page does not include U.S. carriers' foreign point-to-point flights.

BTS has scheduled September 12 for the release of data through June.

None of the data are from samples. Measures of statistical significance do not apply to the complete air traffic data.