U.S. Airline June 2020 Passengers Decrease 80% from June 2019 but Rise 93% from May 2020 (Preliminary)

 

  

 

U.S. airlines carried 80% fewer scheduled service passengers in June 2020 than in June 2019, according to preliminary data filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) by 20 airlines that carry more than 90% of the passengers. Despite the large annual drop from pre-pandemic numbers a year earlier (see graphic), when compared to the previous month U.S. airlines carried almost twice as many passengers (93% more) in June 2020 than in May 2020.

 

The 80% decline was less than the annual decrease than in both April (96%) or May (90%).

 

The large airlines carried 16.3 million passengers in June 2020 (preliminary), up from 8.4 million passengers on all U.S. airlines in May 2020 and up from 3 million in April 2020, which was the lowest monthly total in BTS records dating back to 1974. The previous low was 14.6 million passengers in February 1975.

 

Preliminary June 2020 passenger numbers (20 carriers reporting):

• Total: 3 million passengers, down 80% from June 2019 (81.4M) but up 93% from May 2020
• Domestic: 15.9 million passengers, down 77% from June 2019 (70.6M)
• International: 395 thousand passengers, down 96% from June 2019 (10.8M)

 

U.S. airline traffic reports are filed monthly with BTS. Final June data will be released on Sept. 11.  Complete international data by origin and destination, which is under a six-month confidentiality restriction, will be released on Dec. 10.

 

Systemwide Passengers

 

June 2020 was the second consecutive month that the annual decrease in the number of U.S. airlines passengers was less than annual change in the previous month. The annual declines beginning in March followed 29 consecutive months of increases from the same month of the previous year, dating back to October 2017.

 

 

Table 1: Systemwide Percent Change in US Airlines Scheduled Service Passengers from the Same Month of the Previous Year, 2016-2020

		Year-to-Year Percent Change
	2016-2017	2017-2018	2018-2019	2019-2020
January	3.0	2.9	4.0	5.6
February	-0.2	5.7	3.0	6.7
March	3.4	4.6	5.1	-51.3
April	4.5	4.8	3.8	-96.1
May	3.0	4.9	5.2	-89.6
June	3.4	5.0	3.7	-80.0*
July	3.8	5.2	3.6
August	5.0	5.0	3.4
September	-2.3	5.8	5.7
October	4.6	3.9	4.1
November	4.6	4.5	0.5
December	3.5	3.6	8.8
Annual	3.1	4.7	4.2

 

Domestic Passengers

 

Domestic passengers on U.S. airlines declined 77% from June 2019 to June 2020 (preliminary), following larger annual declines in May (88%) and April (96%). The number of domestic passengers rose year-to-year for 29 consecutive months beginning in October 2017 before the 51% decline in March.

  

Table 2: Domestic Percent Change in US Airlines Scheduled Service Passengers from the Same Month of the Previous Year, 2016-2020

		Year-to-Year Percent Change
	2016-2017	2017-2018	2018-2019	2019-2020
January	3.1	3.2	3.9	6.2
February	-0.1	5.9	3.0	7.4
March	3.8	4.2	5.4	-51.0
April	3.7	5.7	3.7	-95.7
May	2.7	5.3	5.2	-88.5
June	3.1	5.3	3.6	-77.4*
July	3.7	5.8	3.8
August	5.0	5.5	3.4
September	-2.5	5.8	5.8
October	4.7	3.8	4.2
November	4.5	4.4	0.2
December	3.7	3.7	9.5
Annual	3.0	4.9	4.3

 

 

International Passengers

 

The number of U.S. airlines international passengers declined 96% from June 2019 to June 2020 (preliminary), following annual decreases of 99% in April and 98% in May. The declines beginning in March followed 22 consecutive months of increases from the same month of the previous year, dating back to May 2018.

 

 

Table 3: International Percent Change in US Airlines Scheduled Service Passengers from the Same Month of the Previous Year, 2016-2020

		Year-to-Year Percent Change
	2016-2017	2017-2018	2018-2019	2019-2020
January	2.1	1.0	4.5	1.9
February	-1.2	4.6	3.4	0.7
March	0.4	7.2	3.1	-53.3
April	9.8	-1.0	4.3	-98.6
May	5.4	2.3	5.3	-98.1
June	5.3	3.4	4.2	-96.4*
July	4.6	1.6	2.2
August	4.9	2.0	3.9
September	-1.1	5.9	4.6
October	3.2	4.3	3.2
November	5.4	4.7	2.2
December	1.7	3.2	3.6
Annual	3.5	3.1	3.8

 

 

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 20 U.S. airlines as of Aug 3.

 

See the BTS Airlines and Airports page for additional U.S. airlines numbers through April for U.S. airlines. International data by origin and destination is available through January.

 

BTS has scheduled Aug. 13 for the release of final data for May.

 

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