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Domestic Airline Traffic Up 13.1 Percent in April 2004 From April 2003

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Contact BTS 19-04 Dave Smallen 202-366- 5568

Thursday, July 15, 2004 - The U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today reported, in a release of preliminary data, that U.S. airlines carried 53.6 million domestic passengers in April, 13.1 percent more than in April 2003 (Table 1). 

These passengers were carried on 814,033 flights, up 5.3 percent from the flights operated in April 2003.

In other domestic comparisons from April 2003 to April 2004:

Revenue passenger miles, a measure of the number of passengers and the distance flown, were up 16.2 percent.

Available seat-miles, a measure of airline capacity, were up 10.1 percent.

Load factor, a measure of how many seats are sold and used, was up 4.1 percentage points.

Flight stage length, the average non-stop distance, was up 5.0 percent.

Passenger trip length, the average distance passengers travel, was up 2.7 percent.

The number of domestic airline passengers fell 1.7 percent in April from March (Table 2).  Month-to-month comparisons may be affected by seasonal factors.

Among airlines, Southwest Airlines carried 7.1 million domestic passengers in April, the most of any airline (Table 3).

Among airports, Hartsfield-Jackson International in Atlanta continued in April to be the busiest domestic airport, with 3.2 million passenger boardings (Table 4).

Table 1: Domestic Airline Travel in April

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Source: T-100 Domestic Market and Segment

Table 2. Total Industry Domestic Enplanements

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Source: T-100 Domestic Market

Additional airline traffic data can be found on the BTS website at TranStats, the Intermodal Transportation Database at http://transtats.bts.gov.  Click on "Aviation", then on "Air Carrier Statistics (Form 41 Traffic)", then click on "T-100 Domestic Market."

Table 3. Top 10 Airlines, ranked by April 2004 Domestic Enplanements

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Source: T-100 Domestic Market

Table 4. Top 10 Airports ranked by April 2004 Domestic Enplanements

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Source: T-100 Domestic Market

Data are compiled from monthly reports filed with BTS by commercial air carriers detailing operations, passenger traffic and freight traffic.  April 2004 traffic data are preliminary and include data received by BTS from 109 airlines as of July 13.  Data are subject to revision.

Revised data from March and previous months are posted on the BTS website at http://transtats.bts.gov.  BTS will release May traffic data on August 12.