BTS releases November 2016 US airline traffic data

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today that U.S.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today that U.S. airlines’ systemwide (domestic and international) scheduled service load factor – a measure of the use of airline capacity – rose to 84.3 percent in November, seasonally adjusted, rising for the third consecutive month. Seasonal adjustment allows the comparing of monthly load factors to all other months.

The seasonally-adjusted load factor rose from October (84.0) to November (84.3) because passenger travel grew faster (1.1 percent increase in RPMs) than system capacity (0.8 percent increase in ASMs).


Load factor is a measure of the use of aircraft capacity that compares the system use, measured in Revenue Passenger-Miles (RPMs) as a proportion of system capacity, measured in Available Seat-Miles (ASMs).

Trends:

Seasonally-adjusted

While up month-to-month, systemwide load factor (84.3) was down 0.7 points from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (85.0) reached in October 2015 (Table 1). Domestic load factor (85.3) was down 1.1 points from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (86.4) reached in October 2015. International load factor (81.8) was down 1.3 points from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (83.1) reached in March 2013.

Systemwide RPMs (78.4 billion) reached a new seasonally-adjusted all-time high, up 0.1 percent from June 2016 (78.3 billion). Domestic RPM (55.8 billion) reached a new seasonally-adjusted all-time high, up 0.6 percent from September 2016 (55.5 billion). International RPMs (22.6 billion) were down 2.1 percent from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (23.1 billion) reached in July 2016.

Systemwide ASMs (93.0 billion) were down 0.5 percent from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (93.5 billion) reached in June 2016. Domestic ASMs (65.4 billion) reached a new seasonally-adjusted all-time high, up 0.2 percent from August 2016 (65.3 billion).

International ASMs (27.6 billion) were down 2.7 percent from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (28.4 billion) reached in June 2016.

Systemwide passenger enplanements (69.5 million) reached a new seasonally-adjusted all-time high, up 0.3 percent from September 2016 (69.3 million). Domestic passenger enplanements (60.9 million) reached a new seasonally-adjusted all-time high, up 0.3 percent from September 2016 (60.7 million). International passenger enplanements (8.6 million) were down 1.9 percent from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (8.7 million) reached in June 2016.

Seasonally adjusted trends are for the time period January 2000 to present. Additional data, including domestic and international numbers, can be found on the seasonally-adjusted data page.

Unadjusted

Systemwide load factor (83.1) was up 0.7 points from the previous all-time November high (82.4) reached in 2015. Domestic load factor (84.7) was up 0.5 points from the previous all-time November high (84.2) reached in 2015. International load factor (78.9) was down 0.7 points from the all-time November high (79.6) reached in 2012.

Systemwide RPMs (72.2 billion) reached an all-time November high, up 3.1 percent from the previous high (70.0 billion) reached in 2015. Domestic RPMs (53.3 billion) reached an all-time November high, up 4.6 percent from the previous high (50.9 billion) reached in 2015. International RPMs (18.9 billion) were down 1.0 percent from the all-time November high (19.1 billion) reached in 2015.

Systemwide ASMs (86.9 billion) reached an all-time November high, up 2.3 percent from the previous high (84.9 billion) reached in 2015. Domestic ASMs (62.9 billion) reached an all-time November high, up 3.4 percent from the previous high (60.8 billion) reached in 2007. International ASMs (24.0 billion) were down 2.8 percent from the all-time November high (24.7 billion) reached in 2014.

Systemwide passenger enplanements (66.6 million) reached an all-time November high, up 3.1 percent from the previous high (64.6 million) reached in 2015. Domestic passenger enplanements (59.3 million) reached an all-time November high, up 3.7 percent from the previous high (57.2 million) reached in 2015. International passenger enplanements (7.3 million) were down 1.6 percent from the all-time November high (7.4 million) reached in 2015.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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