US Airline Passengers Up in Jan 2022. Still Down from 2020

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U.S. airlines carried 46.3 million scheduled service passengers in January 2022*, 33.2% more than in January 2021 and 34.0% fewer than in pre-pandemic January 2020, according to data filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) by 23 airlines that carry more than 90% of passengers.

Domestic passengers (41.2 million) made up 89% of total enplanements, and international passengers (5.1 million) accounted for 11% of total. Omicron concerns caused the steepest US drop from the most recent pre-pandemic corresponding month since April 2021, BTS said today.

This of course was long before Putin’s war against democracy in Ukraine and economic sanctions were imposed, with more likely. Following are BTS data points.

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 Domestic Passengers – January 2022 passengers: 41.2M

• Change from January 2021:  36.3% (11.0M)
• Change from pre-pandemic January 2020:  -32.5% (-19.8M)
• Change from April 2020 low: 1343.0% (38.4M)
• Domestic percent of total January 2022 passengers: 89.1%
• Domestic percent of total January 2020 passengers: 87.0%

Systemwide Passengers – January 2022 passengers: 46.3M

• Change from January 2021: 33.2% (11.5M)
• Change from pre-pandemic January 2020: -34.0% (-23.8M)
• Change from April 2020 low: 144.9% (43.3M)

International Passengers – January 2022 passengers: 5.1M

• Change from January 2021:12.5% (563,661)
• Change from pre-pandemic January 2020: -44.4% (-4.0M)
• Change from April 2020 low: 3744.3% (4.9M)
• International percent of total January 2022 passengers: 10.9%
• International percent of total January 2020 passengers: 13.0%

 *January 2022 data is preliminary

 Notes

U.S. airline traffic reports detailing operations, passenger traffic and freight traffic are filed monthly with BTS by commercial U.S. carriers. This release includes data received by BTS from U.S. scheduled passenger service airlines as of March 11, 2022. None of the data are from samples. Measures of statistical significance do not apply to the complete air traffic data. Final January data is scheduled for release on April 14. Complete international data by origin and destination, which is under a six-month confidentiality restriction, will be released on July 15. See the BTS Airlines and Airport page for additional U.S. airlines numbers through December for U.S. airlines. International data by origin and destination is available through September.