Airlines from the U.S. Log Significant Growth in the First Eight Months of 2005

U.S. airlines carried 5.2 percent more domestic passengers and flew 1.6 percent more domestic flights during the first eight months of 2005 than they did during the same period in 2004, the U.S. Department of Transportation´s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported in a release of preliminary data.

BTS, a part of DOT´s Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), reported that the airlines carried 449.3 million domestic passengers during the first eight months of 2005, up from the 427.0 million carried between January and August 2004. The passengers were carried on 6.83 million flights, up 1.6 percent from the 6.72 million flights operated in 2004.

Revenue passenger miles, a measure of the number of passengers and the distance flown, were up 5.2 percent. Available seat-miles, a measure of airline capacity, were up 1.8 percent.

Passenger load factor, passengers carried as a proportion of available seats, was up 2.5 load factor points. Flight stage length, the average non-stop distance flown per departure, was up 1.3 percent.

Passenger trip length, the average distance flown per passenger, was 870 miles per trip, no change from the first eight months of 2004.

Among airlines, Southwest Airlines carried 59.2 million domestic passengers during the first eight months of 2005, the most of any airline.