U.S. airlines carried 13% more cargo by weight in October 2020 (preliminary) than in October 2019. The rise was fueled by gains of 14% in domestic cargo and 9% in international cargo, according to data filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) by 14 of the leading U.S. cargo airlines.
The 14 airlines carry 95% of the total cargo by weight on U.S. airlines. Cargo data consists of freight and mail carried within the U.S. and between the U.S. and foreign points.
U.S. airline traffic reports are filed monthly with BTS. Final October data will be released on Jan. 15. Complete international data by origin and destination, which is under a six-month confidentiality restriction, will be released on April 15.
| 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.4 | 10.5 | 5.1 | -0.5 |
| February | 6.1 | 9.2 | -0.3 | -0.1 |
| March | 8.0 | 5.8 | -0.2 | -1.9 |
| April | 2.6 | 5.9 | 4.4 | 0.9 |
| May | 10.8 | 9.0 | 3.1 | 9.1 |
| June | 6.8 | 5.5 | -1.1 | 12.8 |
| July | 6.9 | 6.7 | 3.5 | 5.3 |
| August | 9.7 | 5.0 | 0.2 | 18.1 |
| September | 4.3 | 5.0 | -4.4 | 12.7* |
| October | 10.6 | 5.5 | -1.2 | |
| November | 10.6 | -0.6 | -2.3 | |
| December | 5.6 | 0.3 | 0.7 | |
| Jan-Oct | 7.2 | 6.7 | 0.9 | 5.0 |
| Annual | 7.4 | 5.4 | 0.6 |
| 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4.6 | 10.4 | 6.1 | 2.8 |
| February | 4.9 | 8.7 | 0.7 | 2.2 |
| March | 7.1 | 4.0 | -0.4 | 3.1 |
| April | 1.5 | 4.9 | 7.7 | 3.1 |
| May | 10.8 | 8.9 | 4.5 | 4.2 |
| June | 5.4 | 4.5 | 0.5 | 12.7 |
| July | 5.2 | 6.7 | 6.2 | 15.8 |
| August | 9.4 | 4.8 | 0.1 | 6.6 |
| September | 3.3 | 4.3 | -2.9 | 21.1 |
| October | 11.1 | 5.7 | 1.8 | 14.0* |
| November | 11.3 | -0.1 | -1.8 | |
| December | 5.1 | 0.1 | 4.5 | |
| Jan-Oct | 6.4 | 6.2 | 2.4 | 8.0 |
| Annual | 6.7 | 5.0 | 2.2 |
| 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 11.4 | 10.6 | 2.2 | -9.8 |
| February | 9.6 | 10.4 | -3.1 | -6.3 |
| March | 10.5 | 10.7 | 0.4 | -13.9 |
| April | 5.3 | 8.2 | -3.9 | -15.7 |
| May | 11.0 | 9.2 | -0.6 | -8.3 |
| June | 10.8 | 8.2 | -5.2 | -0.6 |
| July | 11.3 | 6.7 | -3.6 | 4.5 |
| August | 10.6 | 5.6 | 0.4 | 1.7 |
| September | 7.2 | 7.0 | -8.3 | 10.2 |
| October | 9.4 | 5.0 | -8.7 | 8.7* |
| November | 8.8 | -1.8 | -3.5 | |
| December | 7.2 | 0.9 | -10.6 | |
| Jan-Oct | 9.7 | 8.0 | -3.1 | -3.6 |
| Annual | 9.4 | 6.5 | -3.8 |
Reporting Notes
Data are compiled from monthly reports filed with BTS by commercial U.S. air carriers detailing operations, passenger traffic and freight traffic. This release includes data received by BTS from 14 U.S. airlines as of Dec. 3.
See the BTS Airlines and Airports page for additional U.S. airlines numbers through August for U.S. airlines. International data by origin and destination is available through May.
None of the data are from samples. Measures of statistical significance do not apply to the complete air traffic data.