TI News: An information service from Office of Travel & Tourism Industries (OTTI)

November 19, 2012

August 2012 Total U.S.-International Air Passenger Traffic was 17.3 Million, Up 7 Percent

August Year-to-Date Total U.S.-International Air Traffic up Eight Percent
Foreign Citizen and Foreign Flag Traffic Growth Outpaced U.S. Citizens and Carriers

Performance metrics reported are:

• Total air travel (arrivals + departures),
• U.S. citizen and foreign citizen air travelers,
• U.S. flag and foreign flag carriers,
• Top U.S. and foreign airports.

Summary of January through August 2012:

International air traffic to/from the United States ⁽¹⁾ totaled 121.3 million passengers from January through August 2012, an eight percent increase over the first eight months of 2011.

U.S. citizen air travel (55.1 million) increased five percent and comprised 45 percent of all air traffic. Foreign national (non-U.S. citizen) air travelers (66.2 million) increased by 10 percent, increasing share of the total market from 53 to 55 percent.

U.S. airlines carried 66.0 million passengers, up five percent, however their share dropped two percentage points to 54 percent. Foreign flags carried 55.3 million passengers, up 11 percent from January-August 2011, with their share increasing to 46 percent.

For August, air traffic was up seven percent from August 2011, disclosing slower growth.

International is the grand total of overseas, Canada and Mexico regions, as follows:

Overseas air traffic accounted for 90.7 million passengers, 75 percent of all international air traffic for year-to-date.

U.S. citizen travel (42.1 million) increased five percent and comprised 46 percent of all air traffic. Foreign national air travelers (48.7 million) increased by 11 percent, increasing market share to 54 percent, a two percentage point increase in share between 2011 and 2012.

U.S. airlines carried 47.4 million passengers, up six percent, and their share decreased from 53 to 52 percent. Foreign flags carried 43.4 million passengers, up 10 percent from the first eight months of 2011. Their traffic share increased to 48 percent.

Total air traffic to/from overseas regions performed as follows:

North American markets (Canada and Mexico) accounted for 25 percent of U.S. international air traffic flows.

U.S.-Canada air traffic accounted for 16.9 million passengers, 14 percent of all international traffic, and was up seven percent year-to-date.

U.S. citizen travel (4.5 million) increased five percent and comprised only 27 percent of air traffic in the market. Canadian and other foreign national citizen air travelers (12.4 million) increased by eight percent with their market share resulting at 73 percent.

U.S. flags carried 7.8 million passengers, up three percent, and their share dropped from 48 to 46 percent. Foreign flags carried 9.1 million passengers, up 11 percent increasing their share to 54 percent.

U.S. - Mexico air traffic accounted for 13.7 million passengers, 11 percent of all U.S. - international traffic, and was up six percent.

U.S. citizen travel (8.6 million) increased three percent and comprised 63 percent of all air traffic. Foreign national air travelers (5.1 million) increased by 13 percent increasing their market share to 37 percent.

U.S. flags carried 10.8 million passengers, up two percent from last year, and their share dropped from 83 to 79 percent. Foreign flags carried 2.9 million passengers, up 29 percent increasing share to 21 percent.

Top 10 Foreign Airports (Passenger Traffic to/from U.S.) August 2012 YTD:
Accounted for 40 Percent of U.S. - International Air Traffic, the same as July 2012 YTD

Top 10 U.S. Airports (Passenger Traffic to/from Foreign Airports) August 2012 YTD:
Accounted for 70 Percent of All U.S. - International Air Traffic

Top 10 Airlines Serving U.S. International Non-Stop Markets August 2012 YTD:
Accounted for 60 Percent of All U.S. - International Air Traffic
Down from 62 Percent July2012 YTD

* United Airlines and Continental merged operations on March ^7th

In the immediate future OTTI will publish the August 2012 U.S. Citizen Outbound report, which contains total monthly travel (all modes) to Canada and Mexico. See July 2012: https://travel.trade.gov/view/m-2012-O-001/index.html.

A description of OTTI’s program based on DHS APIS/ “I-92” data: http://tinet.ita.doc.gov/research/programs/i92/index.html includes subscription prices for detailed country and port level reports which are available in Excel and Adobe. See actual report: http://tinet.ita.doc.gov/research/programs/i92/2006_I92_Air_Travel_Statistics.pdf

U.S. Department of Commerce
International Trade Administration
Office of Travel and Tourism Industries (OTTI)
1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Room 10003
Washington, D.C. 20230
Phone: (202) 482-0140
Website: www.tinet.ita.doc.gov
Email: otti@trade.gov

⁽¹⁾ This reflects non-stop air-only data. A portion of the non-stop passenger traffic to Europe will not ‘visit’ Europe, but will connect through one of Europe’s airline hubs (LHR, AMS, FRA, CDG, MAD, etc.) to Africa and the Middle East. The adjustment to these regions, reflecting visitation (1+ nights), occurs after year-end data is compiled.

⁽²⁾ Numbers for U.S. carriers slightly exceed what has been reported by Airlines for America (A4A). A4A reports mainline numbers for most of their member carriers. A4A classifies Canadian air travel as ‘Domestic.’ The DHS-I92/APIS data includes all carriers with international service to/from the U.S. including regional carriers, both affiliated and non-affiliated, and general aviation. The I-92/APIS however is not inclusive of Pacific inter-port or other ‘beyond’ traffic.