A record number of passengers flew on domestic and foreign airlines serving the United States in 2016, according to a report from the US Department of Transportation (DoT).
Considering both domestic and international flights, the agency counted 928.9 million scheduled services (not including charter flights) passengers last year, a 3.5 per cent increase over 2015. The 897.9 million passengers reported in 2015 was also a record at the time.
Domestic travel rose 3.3 per cent, while the number of passengers on flights to and from the US increased 4 per cent, the DoT reported. US airlines carried 3.3 per cent more passengers in 2016, while foreign airlines carried 6.3 per cent more travellers.
A total of 209.9 million passengers travelled on international flights, breaking the previous record high reported in 2015.
Air travel volume has been steadily growing since the downturn experienced during the “Great Recession” of 2007-9.
Southwest Airlines carried more total passengers in 2016 than any other carrier, while American Airlines had the most international passengers among domestic airlines (British Airways was the foreign airline transporting the most travellers to and from the US).
Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International continued to be the busiest US airport overall, while New York’s JFK served the most international passengers.
