Passengers boarded by the largest U.S. air carriers 1990-2021

The number of passengers boarded by U.S. air carriers shrunk in 2020, decreasing by 60 percent less than the previous year. In 2021, this value improved to 632.4 million but was still 26 percent less than the number of passengers boarded in 2019.

Airline passenger growth

The stagnation of passenger traffic on U.S. airlines between 2010 and 2015 poses something of a puzzle. Over this time, the number of passengers boarded by airlines globally increased by almost one billion, while the largest U.S. carriers increased their domestic enplanements. The number of international passengers travelling to and from the U.S. also grew over this period. The question is, why did passenger numbers remain constant given the growth seen in related metrics?

Regional carriers

One contributing factor to this period of stagnation in passenger traffic is the decline in regional air travel. The number of flights performed by regional carriers in the U.S. has fallen every year since 2010, and by 2017 was almost 19 percent lower. This decline translates into almost 11 million fewer regional passengers flying in 2017 than 2010.