Passenger air traffic fell 60% in ’20, new data show

ATLANTA — The number of passengers flying on U.S. airlines fell 60 percent in 2020 as most travelers stayed home during the COVID-19 pandemic, new federal data show.

The passenger counts were at their lowest level since the mid-1980s, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The number of flights also dropped as airlines recorded the fewest since federal reporting began in 1987.

The nation’s airlines carried a total of 369 million passengers last year, according to the federal data released last week. That’s down from 927 million passengers in 2019.

Domestic passenger counts were down 59 percent, while international passenger counts were down 70 percent. International traffic typically makes up about 12 percent of passengers on U.S. airlines. However, the data released does not include passengers on foreign carriers.

Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines — which, compared to some smaller carriers, has a greater share of the international and business travel — saw its passenger traffic decline by nearly 70 percent.

Traffic levels nationally remained down 60 percent or more into the first few weeks of this year.

However, passenger counts at airport security checkpoints in the past month have climbed above the 1 million mark on some days, according to data from the Transportation Security Administration.

A recovery in air traffic is “expected to accelerate heading into the summer months with greater vaccination rates and the release of pent-up travel demand,” according to a report by bond rating agency Fitch Ratings. Leisure travel will lead the recovery, particularly domestic travel, but it is expected to take years.