BTS Releases March 2012 Airline Traffic Data;

[admin]

BTS Releases March 2012 Airline Traffic Data;
System Traffic Up 1.4 Percent from March 2011

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today that U.S. airlines carried 64.5 million scheduled domestic and international passengers in March 2012, 1.0 percent more domestic passengers and 4.2 percent more international passengers than in March 2011. These changes resulted in a systemwide increase of 1.4 percent in passengers from March 2011. The March 2012 passenger total was 3.6 percent above that of two years ago in March 2010.
BTS, a part of DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration, also reported in a release of preliminary data that the system load factor of 83.0 percent and the domestic load factor of 84.5 percent were record highs for the month of March.
U.S. airlines carried 172.0 million total system passengers during the first three months of 2012, up 2.8 percent from the same period in 2011. Domestically, they carried 149.7 million passengers, up 2.8 percent from 2011. Internationally, they carried 22.3 million passengers, up 2.7 percent from 2011. See Tables 2, 8 and 14 of Air Traffic Press Releases for previous year numbers.
Additional traffic numbers can be found on the BTS website in the Airlines and Airports box. Click on a link in the column on the right. For more historical numbers, see Traffic on the BTS website.
Load Factor and Capacity
The first three months of 2012 continued the trend of 2011 when the system and domestic load factors were at an all-time high while the international load factor declined from the all-time high in 2010. Domestic capacity, measured by available seat-miles, decreased 0.6 percent in March 2012 compared to March 2011, while revenue passenger miles (RPMs) increased by 1.4 percent, resulting in the record domestic load factor. The international load factor in March increased as airlines grew capacity by 0.3 percent while RPMs gained by a larger 4.9 percent. Systemwide capacity was down 0.3 percent compared to a 2.5 percent increase in RPMs.