BTS | Table 1-34: U.S. Air Carrier Aircraft Departures, Enplaned Revenue Passengers, and Enplaned Revenue Tons

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Table 1-34: U.S. Air Carrier Aircraft Departures, Enplaned Revenue Passengers, and Enplaned Revenue Tons

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	1975	1980	1985	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	(R) 2000	(R) 2001	(R) 2002	(R) 2003	(R) 2004	2005	2006	(P) 2007
AIRCRAFT DEPARTURES
Total performed ^a	4,555,516	5,156,848	5,505,659	6,641,681	6,545,000	6,606,609	7,193,841	7,513,232	8,030,530	8,204,674	8,095,888	8,248,269	8,605,486	8,929,559	8,548,932	8,052,756	8,585,736	9,444,234	9,859,941	9,512,017	9,628,397
Total scheduled	4,530,535	5,204,564	5,591,596	6,758,571	7,024,412	6,703,670	7,058,097	7,359,093	7,920,467	8,064,653	7,907,554	8,094,020	8,432,940	8,688,776	8,340,180	7,981,190	8,479,414	9,193,220	9,722,715	9,429,017	9,740,221
Large hubs
Performed	2,437,958	2,887,239	3,439,446	4,167,868	4,114,950	4,078,211	4,480,575	4,756,589	5,162,534	5,257,541	5,266,560	5,416,158	5,645,179	5,851,801	5,177,758	4,918,940	5,336,246	5,591,234	5,842,793	5,660,186	5,688,872
Scheduled	2,409,874	2,905,923	3,487,660	4,237,466	4,312,032	4,144,325	4,443,937	4,713,178	5,147,875	5,243,646	5,219,161	5,405,728	5,570,419	5,720,435	5,092,030	4,867,648	5,326,856	5,486,529	5,806,009	5,654,357	5,818,488
Medium hubs
Performed	902,652	1,048,726	1,185,008	1,394,833	1,256,306	1,301,977	1,310,322	1,471,377	1,439,639	1,425,280	1,430,537	1,429,730	1,499,243	1,574,986	1,893,805	1,791,778	1,703,127	2,046,105	2,184,522	2,076,849	2,138,079
Scheduled	899,543	1,058,438	1,201,540	1,417,762	1,352,515	1,312,257	1,268,316	1,398,144	1,387,833	1,356,162	1,352,944	1,345,197	1,404,482	1,507,991	1,812,161	1,784,913	1,671,068	2,007,421	2,153,826	2,062,423	2,148,553
Small hubs
Performed	640,589	598,559	514,176	669,450	689,518	771,529	841,685	710,569	738,231	754,914	695,841	714,920	746,625	779,518	864,722	788,758	884,306	1,088,691	1,091,838	1,095,346	1,112,365
Scheduled	644,133	608,738	524,048	679,103	858,429	783,305	794,279	685,421	711,947	722,170	660,685	674,812	770,092	759,208	856,112	809,246	855,679	1,025,145	1,064,124	1,078,363	1,125,286
Nonhubs
Performed	574,317	622,324	367,029	409,530	484,226	454,892	561,259	574,697	690,126	766,939	702,950	687,461	714,439	723,254	612,647	553,280	662,057	718,204	740,788	679,636	689,081
Scheduled	576,985	631,465	378,348	424,240	501,436	463,783	551,565	562,350	672,812	742,675	674,764	668,283	687,947	701,142	579,877	519,383	625,811	674,125	698,756	633,874	647,894
ENPLANED REVENUE PASSENGERS ^b	196,782,144	281,408,852	363,341,497	438,544,001	428,319,248	447,625,988	468,313,029	508,458,194	526,055,483	558,183,741	568,615,687	588,335,318	610,628,716	639,753,899	595,364,778	575,058,533	593,132,200	652,413,250	690,135,672	690,765,508	712,627,335
Large hubs	133,975,900	197,679,376	264,507,144	317,595,099	313,375,097	319,582,090	340,048,661	372,731,005	392,601,890	417,339,694	426,246,423	442,402,443	458,665,099	479,570,342	413,634,333	401,696,877	424,621,015	447,500,697	473,367,070	475,207,801	488,298,537
Medium hubs	36,539,613	51,664,627	65,770,376	80,466,373	72,985,169	80,800,955	79,032,913	88,601,244	85,929,285	89,018,764	90,779,705	91,755,793	96,394,866	102,082,360	124,587,728	119,733,580	109,492,740	135,364,314	143,749,228	142,139,330	147,067,665
Small hubs	19,406,607	23,393,324	24,240,726	30,771,383	31,224,974	36,879,632	37,334,956	34,443,996	33,561,098	37,122,974	36,298,979	37,675,305	38,644,557	40,121,294	42,833,911	40,053,861	43,545,830	51,812,381	53,291,924	55,008,304	57,500,743
Nonhubs	6,860,024	8,671,525	8,823,251	9,711,146	10,734,008	10,363,311	11,896,499	12,681,949	13,963,210	14,702,309	15,290,580	16,501,777	16,924,194	17,979,903	14,308,806	13,574,215	15,472,615	17,735,858	19,727,450	18,410,073	19,760,390
ENPLANED REVENUE TONS ^c	3,661,061	5,088,313	4,024,470	6,298,824	6,417,504	6,736,309	8,203,090	8,718,082	9,365,017	10,333,298	13,520,228	14,083,769	14,911,847	15,105,527	17,514,685	13,525,489	13,911,441	14,616,794	14,445,548	14,262,852	14,099,708
Freight, total	2,764,763	3,562,187	2,601,027	4,732,726	4,854,513	5,053,678	6,383,887	6,802,375	7,204,479	8,047,795	11,163,448	11,784,514	12,067,717	12,770,655	15,805,842	12,674,172	13,069,642	13,870,934	13,795,084	13,673,646	13,586,049
Large hubs	2,265,665	3,008,311	2,047,988	3,001,217	2,960,604	3,067,778	3,678,851	4,025,517	4,402,327	4,653,189	5,691,363	6,208,629	5,993,061	6,728,534	6,338,289	4,999,651	5,524,253	5,424,975	5,184,194	5,019,609	4,969,475
Medium hubs	358,044	414,325	469,057	1,446,744	1,507,017	1,633,136	1,857,865	2,022,282	1,950,318	2,169,411	3,855,449	3,897,242	4,382,712	4,445,684	6,871,585	5,750,187	5,264,084	5,042,642	6,239,905	5,239,725	5,235,404
Small hubs	99,133	73,795	48,127	191,358	222,247	267,619	516,199	432,680	541,062	755,232	963,093	1,019,615	1,053,050	936,896	1,405,627	1,056,987	1,015,860	2,052,242	981,639	2,010,442	2,037,655
Nonhubs	41,922	65,756	35,855	93,407	164,645	85,145	330,973	321,896	310,772	469,962	653,542	659,028	638,894	659,541	1,190,341	867,347	1,265,445	1,351,075	1,389,346	1,403,870	1,343,515
Mail, total	896,298	1,526,125	1,423,443	1,566,098	1,562,991	1,682,632	1,819,203	1,915,706	2,160,538	2,285,503	2,356,781	2,299,255	2,844,130	2,334,872	1,708,843	851,317	841,799	745,860	650,464	589,206	513,659
Large hubs	677,179	1,091,059	1,082,567	1,146,589	1,095,019	1,201,545	1,320,176	1,406,910	1,546,568	1,630,445	1,699,154	1,662,643	2,183,127	1,674,892	1,127,090	642,709	663,406	572,837	492,408	429,955	369,073
Medium hubs	151,498	255,929	268,179	292,899	321,041	321,051	324,441	344,200	442,814	466,583	473,577	482,710	502,096	508,356	407,330	162,549	141,315	143,888	136,635	124,151	93,925
Small hubs	48,486	148,116	59,917	108,656	126,070	144,918	152,692	136,111	136,008	157,137	138,818	127,748	126,793	109,283	103,227	34,293	27,464	25,202	16,901	18,512	25,732
Nonhubs	19,134	31,021	12,781	17,954	20,861	15,117	21,894	28,485	35,149	31,338	45,232	26,154	32,114	42,341	71,196	11,766	9,614	3,933	4,520	16,588	24,929

KEY: P = preliminary; R = revised.

^a Total performed includes scheduled departures performed minus those scheduled departures that did not occur plus unscheduled service.

^b The number of persons receiving air transportation from an air carrier for which remuneration is received by the carrier, excluding persons receiving reduced rate charges, such as air carrier employees, infants, and others (except ministers of religion, elderly individuals, and handicapped individuals).

^c The number of short tons tranported on a flight by an air carrier.

NOTES

Data are for all scheduled and nonscheduled service by large certificated U.S. air carriers at all airports served within the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and other U.S. areas designated by the Federal Aviation Administration. Not all scheduled service is actually performed. Moreover, for several years, total performed departures exceed total scheduled departures because nonscheduled departures are included in the totals. Prior to 1993, all scheduled and some nonscheduled enplanements for certificated air carriers were included; no enplanements were included for air carriers offering charter service only. Prior to 1990, freight includes both freight and express shipments, and mail includes priority and nonpriority U.S. mail and foreign mail; beginning in 1990, only aggregate numbers are reported.

Large certificated air carriers operate aircraft with seating capacity of more than 60 seats or a maximum payload capacity of more than 18,000 pounds and hold Certificates of Public Convenience and Necessity issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation authorizing the performance of air transportation. Data for commuter, intrastate, air taxi, small-certificated, and foreign-flag air carriers are not included.

Prior to 2000, air traffic hubs are designated as geographical areas based on the percentage of total passengers enplaned in the area. Under this designation, a hub may have more than one airport in it. (This definition of hub should not be confused with the definition used by the airlines in describing their "hub-and-spoke" route structures) Individual communities fall into four hub classifications as determined by each community's percentage of total enplaned revenue passengers in all services and all operations of U.S. certificated route carriers within the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and other U.S. areas. For 2000 and later, hub designation is based on passenger boardings at individual airports as designated by the FAA. Classifications are based on the percentage of total enplaned revenue passengers for each year according to the following: one percent or more = large, 0.25 to 0.9999 percent = medium, 0.05 to 0.249 percent = small, less than 0.05 = nonhub.

The 2007 data uses 2006 hub size classifications, as the 2007 FAA hub classifications were not available at the time of publication.

SOURCE

1975-99: U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Office of Airline Information, Airport Activity Statistics of Certified Route Air Carriers (Washington, DC: Annual issues), tables 2, 3, 4, and 5.

2000-07: U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Office of Airline Information, Airport Activity Statistics Database (Form 41 Schedule T-3), special tabulation.