U.S. Scheduled Service Airline Passengers Up 106% in February 2022 from 2021, Still Down 19% from Pre-pandemic 2020

U.S. airlines carried 54.5 million scheduled service passengers in February 2022 (preliminary), 106% more than in February 2021 and 19% fewer than in pre-pandemic February 2020, according to data filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) by 23 airlines that carry more than 90% of passengers. Domestic flights accounted for 89.5% of all passengers, and international flights carried 10.5% of all passengers. Year-over-year, domestic passengers (48.8 million) increased by 100% from February 2021, and international passengers (5.7 million) increased by 171%.

Systemwide Passengers

• February 2022 passengers:  54.5 M
• Change from February 2021 (24.4M):  106%
• Change from pre-pandemic February 2020 (59.4M):  -19.0%
• Change from April 2020 low (2.9M):  1723.5%

Table 1: Systemwide Percent Change in US Airlines Scheduled Service Passengers from the Same Month of the Previous Year, 2017 - 2021

Domestic Passengers

• February 2022 passengers:  48.8M
• Change from February 2021 (24.4M):  100.1%
• Change from pre-pandemic February 2020 (59.4M):  -17.8%
• Change from April 2020 low (28.6M): 1607.7%
• Domestic percent of total February 2022 passengers:  89.5%
• Domestic percent of total February 2020 passengers:  88.3%

Table 2: Domestic Percent Change in US Airlines Scheduled Service Passengers from the Same Month of the Previous Year, 2017 - 2021

International Passengers

• February 2022 passengers:  5.7M
• Change from February 2021(2.1M):  170.8%
• Change from pre-pandemic February 2020 (7.9M):  -27.7%
• Change from April 2020 low (131,546): 4239.1%
• International percent of total February 2022 passengers:  10.5%
• International percent of total February 2020 passengers:  11.7%

Table 3: International Percent Change in US Airlines Scheduled Service Passengers from the Same Month of the Previous Year, 2017-2021

Reporting 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 April 15, 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 May 12. Complete international data by origin and destination, which is under a six-month confidentiality restriction, will be released on Aug. 11.