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BTS Home > Publications > National Transportation Statistics > 2000

Air Carrier Profile

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Financial	1960	1970	1980	1990	1994	1995	1996	1997	^R1998	^P1999
Operating revenues (thousand dollars)
Domestic total^a,b	2,178,339	^R7,180,161	26,440,297	57,960,508	65,948,993	70,885,050	76,890,526	82,249,568	86,493,789	90,517,576
Majors, all services	1,942,635^e	6,272,775^e	23,012,073^f	53,333,552^h	59,846,676^h	64,317,169^h	70,036,709^h	74,942,391^h	77,650,810^h	80,797,402^h
Nationals, all services	146,481	736,831	3,182,418	4,167,552ⁱ	5,465,021ⁱ	5,935,773ⁱ	5,990,391ⁱ	6,163,458ⁱ	8,113,690ⁱ	8,933,847ⁱ
Large regionals, all services	N	N	245,806	459,404^j	637,296^j	632,108^j	863,426^j	1,143,719^j	729,289^j	786,328^j
International total	705,938	2,109,497	6,442,144	17,990,355	22,364,429	23,433,483	25,046,820	27,318,034	26,971,289	27,809,573
Majors, all services	705,938	2,109,497	5,976,221^g	16,761,376^h	19,222,842^h	19,892,111^h	21,524,274^h	23,608,853^h	23,356,233^h	24,446,105^h
Nationals, all services	N	N	465,923	901,352ⁱ	2,697,137ⁱ	3,282,606ⁱ	3,326,467ⁱ	3,376,014ⁱ	3,161,212ⁱ	2,954,249ⁱ
Large regionals, all services	N	N	N	327,627^j	444,450^j	258,766^j	196,079^j	333,166^j	453,844^j	409,219^j
Total certificated^a	^R2,884,877	^R9,289,658	32,882,441	75,950,863	88,313,422	94,318,533	101,937,346	109,567,602	113,465,078	118,327,149
Operating expenses (thousand dollars)
Domestic total^a	2,052,094	7,001,668	26,465,999	58,953,086	63,757,937	66,119,699	71,573,073	75,731,215	78,388,515	84,344,125
Majors, all services	1,907,785	6,256,039	23,150,527^f	54,209,401^h	57,824,115^h	59,721,080^h	64,793,763^h	68,307,270^h	70,114,852^h	75,244,844^h
Nationals, all services	144,309	745,629	3,058,289	4,297,823ⁱ	5,285,783ⁱ	5,750,372ⁱ	5,847,797ⁱ	6,163,923ⁱ	7,500,451ⁱ	8,342,749ⁱ
Large regionals, all services	N	N	257,183	445,862^j	648,039^j	648,247^j	931,513^j	1,260,021^j	773,212^j	756,532^j
International total	665,660	2,065,605	6,642,095	18,914,480	21,842,021	22,335,257	24,155,203	25,249,593	25,748,752	26,132,232
Majors, all services	665,660	2,065,605	6,171,366^g	17,746,006^h	18,875,302^h	19,061,258^h	20,807,517^h	21,688,642^h	22,321,441^h	23,048,059^h
Nationals, all services	N	N	470,729	853,361ⁱ	2,503,462ⁱ	3,025,707ⁱ	3,166,097ⁱ	3,253,249ⁱ	3,014,282ⁱ	2,698,045ⁱ
Large regionals, all services	N	N	N	315,113^j	463,257^j	248,292^j	181,589^j	307,702^j	413,029^j	386,129^j
Total certificated^a	2,717,754	9,067,273	33,108,094	77,867,566	85,599,958	88,454,956	95,728,276	100,980,807	104,137,267	110,476,358
Inventory^c
Number of carriers
Total domestic and international	55^k	39^k	^R66^k	^R59^k	^R80^k	^R89^k	^R90^k	^R82^k	^R81^k	84^k
Majors	N	N	^R14	12	11	11	12	13	13	13
Nationals	N	N	^R18	^R15	23	^R27	^R31	31	^R28	33
Regionals	N	N	^R34	^R32	^R46	^R51	^R47	^R38	^R40	38
Number of aircraft available for service
Total domestic and international	2,135^l	2,690^l	2,818^l	4,727^l	5,221^l	5,567^l	5,961^l	5,770^l	6,144^l	6,254^l
Majors	N	N	2,071	3,854	4,085	4,039	4,422	4,352	4,605	4,711
Nationals	N	N	432	650	819	1,143	1,167	967	1,113	1,319
Regionals	N	N	315	223	317	385	372	451	426	224
Number of employees
Total domestic and international	169,872^k	304,690^k	354,264^k	588,926^k	^R585,427^k	^R610,363^k	634,866^k	^R656,243^k	^R696,202^k	728,495^k
Majors	118,189	214,021	318,973	549,100	526,379	533,313	564,631	597,953	623,389	650,267
Nationals	12,470	24,913	29,922	32,077	46,670	59,444	56,586	^R47,662	^R59,414	68,138
Regionals	N	N	5,369	7,749	^R12,378	^R17,606	13,649	^R10,628	^R13,399	10,090
Performance
Aircraft revenue-miles (thousands)
Domestic^b
Certificated, all services^a	858,451^m	2,067,598^m	2,523,375ⁿ	3,963,263^o	4,379,830^o	4,629,394^o	4,811,453^o	4,910,948^o	5,034,691^o	5,308,533^o
Major, all services^a	716,961	1,778,065	2,113,669	3,547,339^p	3,760,064^p	3,953,287^p	4,083,664^p	4,191,113^p	4,260,052^p	4,445,131^p
Nationals, all services^a	94,794	247,055	330,528	351,946^q	519,312^q	569,641^q	614,519^q	594,241^q	702,913^q	781,351^q
Large regionals, all services^a	N	N	56,995	60,542ⁿ	78,573ⁿ	85,363ⁿ	96,573ⁿ	112,682ⁿ	51,199ⁿ	57,360ⁿ
International
Certificated, all services^a	181,605	474,666	400,971^r	760,338^s	979,765^s	997,658^s	1,043,313^s	1,113,816^s	1,192,489^s	1,223,177^s
Major, all services^a	N	N	330,391	666,231^q	809,242^q	822,283^q	859,483^q	917,109^q	1,003,726^q	1,043,737^q
Nationals, all services^a	N	N	66,499	48,812^t	119,839^t	141,870^t	150,147^t	145,821^t	145,494^t	137,996^t
Large regionals, all services^a	N	N	2,948	60,542^u	41,067^u	27,761^u	22,519^u	47,138^u	40,398^u	35,766^u
Medium regionals, all services, domestic and international^a	N	N	23,204	9,017^v	31,500^v	28,847^v	27,861^v	16,660^v	21,024^v	30,369^v
Total certificated^a	1,040,056	2,542,264	2,924,346	4,723,601	5,359,595	5,627,052	5,854,766	6,024,764	6,227,180	6,531,710
Aircraft revenue-hours
Domestic^b
Certificated, all services^a	3,672,900	5,133,161	6,247,795ⁿ	9,717,375^o	10,721,374^o	11,378,134^o	11,871,886^o	12,060,253^o	12,445,483^o	13,040,149^o
Major, all services^a	2,802,317	4,066,480	4,941,327	8,524,236^p	8,864,840^p	9,257,260^p	9,584,525^p	9,828,418^p	9,957,390^p	10,349,988^p
Nationals, all services^a	606,146	908,935	919,187	1,016,491^q	1,579,771^q	1,839,835^q	1,981,219^q	1,882,975^q	2,299,916^q	2,472,930^q
Large regionals, all services^a	N	N	267,522	167,826ⁿ	223,951ⁿ	223,007ⁿ	260,985ⁿ	315,506ⁿ	143,197ⁿ	153,616ⁿ
International
Certificated, all services^a	608,736	977,325	819,518^r	1,556,760^s	1,978,381^s	2,021,060^s	2,113,467^s	2,235,441^s	2,394,095^s	2,452,176^s
Major, all services^a	N	N	668,199	1,351,349^q	1,607,155^q	1,634,465^q	1,712,416^q	1,819,583^q	1,992,776^q	2,071,513^q
Nationals, all services^a	N	N	140,329	101,533^t	251,902^t	314,066^t	329,311^t	309,948^t	311,540^t	289,523^t
Large regionals, all services^a	N	N	7,583	88,641^u	97,967^u	59,572^u	48,619^u	97,304^u	83,437^u	75,851^u
Medium regionals, all services, domestic and international^a	N	N	123,411	24,059^v	74,169^v	70,989^v	68,278^v	41,960^v	51,322^v	78,904^v
Total certificated^a	4,281,636	6,110,486	7,190,724	11,298,194	12,699,755	13,399,194	13,985,353	14,295,694	14,839,578	15,492,325
Revenue passenger-miles (thousands)
Domestic^b
Certificated, all services	31,098,944	108,441,978	204,367,599ⁿ	345,872,950^o	388,398,689^o	403,887,802^o	434,651,687^o	450,612,482^o	463,262,198^o	487,905,650^o
Majors, all services	29,430,428	99,903,229	182,984,795	327,112,620^p	352,063,855^p	368,701,100^p	395,099,254^p	410,906,050^p	421,217,665^p	440,441,958^p
Nationals, all services	1,170,779	7,642,071	20,466,712	16,756,818^q	31,339,182^q	29,255,179^q	33,000,546^q	33,241,082^q	37,699,063^q	43,040,816^q
Large regionals, all services	N	N	711,868	1,752,615ⁿ	3,757,414ⁿ	4,381,267ⁿ	5,443,071ⁿ	5,778,338ⁿ	3,124,802ⁿ	3,205,805ⁿ
International
Certificated, all services	8,950,672^m	39,695,392^m	63,354,387^r	126,362,697^s	149,107,689^s	154,869,249^s	161,512,010^s	169,356,100^s	172,255,197^s	180,263,824^s
Majors, all services	N	N	54,318,160	118,268,507^q	133,299,897^q	137,986,520^q	145,330,811^q	153,564,956^q	157,398,986^q	166,321,018^q
Nationals, all services	N	N	8,659,592	6,794,533^t	13,459,194^t	16,128,695^t	14,681,127^t	13,616,245^t	13,471,798^t	11,498,538^t
Large regionals, all services	N	N	330,288	1,219,706^u	1,964,944^u	676,925^u	505,337^u	2,148,486^u	1,097,330^u	2,034,607^u

Medium regionals, all services, domestic and international^a	N	N	250,571	330,848^v	1,621,892^v	1,627,365^v	2,103,551^v	713,425^v	1,507,751^v	1,626,732^v
Total certificated^a	40,049,616	148,137,370	267,972,557	472,566,495	537,506,378	558,757,051	596,163,697	619,968,582	635,517,395	668,169,474
Average passenger revenue/passenger-mile
(Domestic, scheduled service)	6.09	6.00	11.49	13.43	13.12	13.48	13.76	13.97	14.08	13.96
Average passenger fare
(Domestic, scheduled service)	30.01	40.65	84.60	107.86	103.21	106.66	110.37	114.10	114.34	114.99
Revenue passenger enplanements (thousands)
Domestic^b
Certificated, all services^a	56,352^m	153,662^m	275,182ⁿ	428,767^o	489,351^o	506,789^o	538,394^o	548,735^o	566,951^o	588,601^o
Major, all services^a	48,678	122,866	223,237	393,927^p	428,328^p	441,650^p	466,743^p	478,253^p	486,903^p	502,305^p
Nationals, all services^a	5,949	26,726	47,145	32,015^q	53,361^q	55,656^q	62,183^q	61,316^q	74,281^q	80,504^q
Large regionals, all services^a	N	N	3,748	2,566ⁿ	6,138ⁿ	7,136ⁿ	7,887ⁿ	8,203ⁿ	4,352ⁿ	4,254ⁿ
International
Certificated, all services^a	5,904	16,620	26,514^r	46,126^s	51,330^s	52,864^s	54,515^s	56,767^s	57,759^s	57,699^s
Major, all services^a	N	N	23,949	42,207^q	42,702^q	44,155^q	46,302^q	48,614^q	49,610^q	49,768^q
Nationals, all services^a	N	N	2,343	2,632^t	6,608^t	8,114^t	7,401^t	6,896^t	7,038^t	6,279^t
Large regionals, all services^a	N	N	149	1,246^u	1,741^u	556^u	405^u	1,231^u	940^u	1,322^u
Medium regionals, all services, domestic and international^a	N	N	1,125	300^v	1,803^v	2,386^v	1,988^v	989^v	1,586^v	1,868^v
Total certificated^a	62,256	169,922	302,821	475,193	540,681	559,653	592,909	605,502	624,710	646,300
Revenue passenger
Load factor (%) (scheduled service)
Domestic^b
Certificated	58.5	48.9	58.0ⁿ	60.4^o	64.7^o	65.4^o	67.9^o	69.1^o	70.0^o	69.8^o
Majors	59.5	49.3	58.1	60.6^p	65.0^p	65.7^p	68.5^p	69.7^p	70.4^p	70.2^p
Nationals	41.9	43.6	58.4	56.6^q	62.6^q	61.9^q	61.5^q	63.2^q	65.1^q	66.1^q
Large regionals	N	N	47.7	48.7ⁿ	60.0ⁿ	56.0ⁿ	60.4ⁿ	60.7ⁿ	58.8ⁿ	58.7ⁿ
International
Certificated	62.2	53.0	62.8^r	69.1^s	70.6^s	71.8^s	73.3^s	74.1^s	72.8^s	74.4^s
Majors	N	N	62.8	69.1^q	70.8^q	72.1^q	73.7^q	74.4^q	72.9^q	74.5^q
Nationals	N	N	65.5	73.4^t	68.2^t	67.7^t	67.8^t	69.6^t	70.9^t	73.8^t
Large regionals	N	N	73.9	66.5^u	46.8^u	44.5^u	0.0^u	64.9^u	46.0^u	U^u
Medium regionals, all services, domestic and international^a	N	N	46.7^v	0.0^v	53.8^v	59.3^v	66.7^v	49.7^v	58.2^v	48.4^v
U.S. international passenger travel
Total passenger-arrivals (thousands)
Flag of carrier
United States	1,332^w	5,531^w	10,031^x	19,145^x	23,291^y	24,582^y	25,148^x	26,744^x	27,390^x	27,462^x
Foreign	1,234	4,343	10,231	17,269	20,527	22,328	24,704	27,571	28,791	30,324
Total passenger-departures (thousands)
Flag of carrier
United States	1,200	4,949	9,369	17,628	21,355	22,231	22,901	24,302	24,513	25,457
Foreign	1,136	4,147	9,886	16,418	18,993	20,795	22,884	25,382	26,350	28,399
Total revenue ton-miles (thousands)^d
Domestic^b
Certificated, all services	3,732,949^m	13,876,802^m	24,964,907ⁿ	43,651,162^o	50,631,589^o	52,910,081^o	56,326,750^o	58,658,887^o	60,199,459^o	62,743,196^o
Majors, all services	3,332,483	12,589,057	21,427,534	39,107,033^p	44,952,734^p	47,015,642^p	50,096,661^p	52,254,323^p	53,424,349^p	55,599,771^p
Nationals, all services	121,157	850,477	3,336,057	3,561,283^q	4,510,285^q	4,996,345^q	231,398^q	5,317,576^q	6,012,665^q	6,327,438^q
Large regionals, all services	N	N	180,042	945,929ⁿ	1,002,552ⁿ	718,659ⁿ	863,449ⁿ	971,942ⁿ	508,172ⁿ	584,773ⁿ
International
Certificated, all services	1,291,336	6,308,701	9,689,067^r	19,975,915^s	24,879,791^s	26,295,684^s	28,177,721^s	30,944,299^s	31,481,513^s	32,780,309^s
Majors, all services	N	N	7,377,733	17,803,825^q	20,681,991^q	21,517,789^q	22,880,295^q	24,971,379^q	25,794,344^q	27,764,472^q
Nationals, all services	N	N	2,261,534	1,229,849^t	3,201,089^t	4,116,380^t	4,603,920^t	4,657,365^t	4,376,654^t	4,123,176^t
Large regionals, all services	N	N	44,438	835,701^u	862,184^u	513,476^u	396,142^u	1,240,303^u	1,269,602^u	830,782^u
Medium regionals, all services, domestic and international^a	N	N	28,178	143,457^v	300,545^v	327,474^v	432,606^v	190,298^v	265,186^v	293,093^v
Total certificated^a	5,024,285	20,185,503	34,682,153	63,770,534	75,511,380	79,205,765	84,504,471	89,603,186	91,650,972	95,523,505
Revenue ton-miles of freight (thousands)
Domestic^b
Certificated, all services	552,756	2,708,900	4,528,316ⁿ	9,063,864^o	11,802,778^o	12,520,057^o	12,860,845^o	13,601,412^o	13,839,605^o	13,957,599^o
Majors, all services	321,176	U	3,129,087	6,395,767^p	9,746,354^p	10,145,537^p	10,586,741^p	11,163,518^p	11,302,583^p	11,555,578^p
Nationals, all services	3,850	U	1,289,510	1,885,600^q	1,387,322^q	2,070,570^q	1,931,201^q	1,993,498^q	2,239,140^q	2,023,150^q
Large regionals, all services	N	N	108,864	770,670ⁿ	626,842ⁿ	280,512ⁿ	318,542ⁿ	398,153ⁿ	195,791ⁿ	269,628ⁿ
International
Certificated, all services	268,156^m	1,566,105^m	3,353,371^r	7,339,660^s	9,970,189^s	10,854,620^s	12,031,634^s	14,008,685^s	14,262,373^s	14,752,926^s
Majors, all services	N	N	1,945,660	5,976,973^q	7,351,998^q	7,719,138^q	8,347,214^q	9,614,881^q	10,054,448^q	11,132,370^q
Nationals, all services	N	N	1,395,575	550,409^t	1,855,167^t	2,549,371^t	3,140,921^t	3,295,738^t	3,035,853^t	2,972,323^t
Large regionals, all services	N	N	11,409	713,733^u	666,863^u	445,783^u	345,609^u	1,025,455^u	1,159,869^u	627,320^u
Medium regionals, all services, domestic and international^a	N	N	3,124	110,372^v	138,421^v	163,766^v	222,251^v	118,854^v	114,294^v	130,156^v
Total certificated^a	820,907	3,755,436	7,884,811	16,513,896	21,772,967	23,374,677	24,892,479	27,610,097	28,101,978	28,710,525
Safety
Air carrier fatalities
Operating under 14 CFR 121 (airlines)
Scheduled services	N	N	0^z	39^z	239^z	166^z	342^z	3^z	1^z	12^z
Nonscheduled services	N	N	1	0	0	2	38	5	0	0
Operating under 14 CFR 135
Scheduled services (commuters)	N	N	37	7	25	9	14	46	0	12
Nonscheduled services (on demand air taxis)	N	N	105	51	63	52	63	39	^R48	38
Total^a	499^AA	146^AA	143	97	327	229	457	93	49	62
Air carrier accidents
Operating under 14 CFR 121 (airlines)
Scheduled services	N	N	15	22	19	34	32	44	^R43	48
Nonscheduled services	N	N	4	2	4	2	6	5	7	4
Operating under 14 CFR 135
Scheduled services (commuters)	N	N	38	15	10	12	11	^R17	8	13
Nonscheduled services (on demand air taxis)	N	N	171	107	85	75	90	82	^R77	76
Total^a	90^AA	55^AA	^R228	146	118	123	139	148	^R135	141
Fatal air carrier accidents
Operating under 14 CFR 121 (airlines)
Scheduled services	N	N	0	6	4	2	3	3	1	2
Nonscheduled services	N	N	1	0	0	1	2	1	0	0
Operating under 14 CFR 135
Scheduled services (commuters)	N	N	8	4	3	2	1	5	0	5
Nonscheduled services (on demand air taxis)	N	N	46	29	26	24	29	15	^R18	12
Total^a	17^AA	8^AA	55	39	33	29	35	24	^R19	19

KEY: N = data do not exist; R = revised; U = data are not available.

^aTotals include data not in table; thus totals may not be sum of table data.

^bDomestic encompasses operations within and between the 50 states of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. It also encompasses Canadian and Mexican transborder operations (U.S. airlines only). All other operations are considered international.

^cIncludes scheduled and nonscheduled (charter) operators. By Sec. 2 of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 "charter air carrier" and "charter air transportation" replaced supplemental air carriers and supplemental air transportation which were formerly Sec. 101(36) and (37) of the Act. The 24 prederegulation supplemental carriers now have scheduled service authority.

^dTotal Revenue TonMiles includes Passenger, Freight, Express and Mail.

SOURCES: Unless otherwise noted, refer to chapter tables for sources.

^eCivil Aeronautics Board, Handbook of Airline Statistics, 1969 and 1973 (Washington, DC), pp. 69, 71.

^fIbid., Air Carrier Financial Statistics, December 1981 (Washington, DC), pp. 3/28, 44.

^gIbid., pp. 42, 44.

^hU.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, (pre-1995, U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Special Programs Administration), Air Carrier Financial Statistics, December Various years (Washington, DC) p. 3.

ⁱIbid., pp. 30, 31, 32, 35.

^jIbid., pp. 65, 71, 72, 76.

^kU.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Office of Airline Information, http://www.bts.gov/oai/employees/employcov.html

^LIbid., personal communication.

^mCivil Aeronautics Board, Handbook of Airline Statistics, 1973, (Washington, DC), Part III, Tables 2, 4, 7, 13.

ⁿIbid., Air Carrier Traffic Statistics, December 1981 (Washington, DC), pp. 2, 5, 46, 84.

^oU.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, (pre-1995, U.S. Ddepartment of Transportation, Research and Special Programs Administration), Air Carrier Traffic Statistics, December 1991/1990, 1992/1991, 1993/1992, 1994/1993, 1995/1994, 1996/1995, 1997/1996, 1998/1997, 1998/1999 (Washington, DC), p. 2.

^pIbid., p. 5.

^qIbid., pp. 52, 53, 59.

^rCivil Aeronautics Board, Air Carrier Traffic Statistics, December 1981 (Washington, DC), pp. 3, 6, 85, 115.

^sU.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, (pre-1995, U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Special Programs Administration), Air Carrier Traffic Statistics, December 1991/1990, 1992/1991, 1993/1992, 1994/1993, 1995/1994, 1996/1995, 1997/1996, 1998/1997, 1998/1999 (Washington, DC), p.3.

^tIbid., pp. 52, 53, 56, 60.

^uIbid., pp. 118, 119, 133, 134.

^vIbid., pp. 178, 182, 187.

^wU.S. Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Report of Passenger Travel Between the U.S. and Foreign Countries, 1960, 1970 (Washington, DC).

^xU.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Special Programs Administration, U.S. International Air Travel Statistics (Washington, DC: Annual issues), tables IIa and IId.

^yU.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, U.S. International Air Passenger Statistics Report, Calendar Year 1995, (Washington, DC), tables IIa, IId.

^zNational Transportation Safety Board, NTSB Press Release, SB-00-05, 2000, tables 6 through 9, available at http://www.ntsb.gov/aviation/Stats.htm.

^AAIbid., personal communication.