2022 ended well for US airlines. According to US Department of Transportation (DOT)US carriers transported 853 million passengers, compared with 658 million the previous year. This represents an increase of 30% over one yearequivalent to 194 million more passengers. With this result, the American airlines are now only 8% below the all-time record for 2019. In the last year before the Covid pandemic, passenger numbers set a new record at 928 million.
It is nevertheless domestic transport, which continues to boost traffic. It was down by just 8% on 2019, while the number of international passengers remained 11% below 2019. A total of 115 million passengers.
Declining punctuality rate, rising cancellations in 2022
The punctuality rate for the whole of 2022 was 76.7 %. This represents a sharp deterioration compared with 2019, when this rate stood at 78.97 %. The flight cancellation rate for the year was 2.7 %compared with 1.9 % for the same period in 2019.
2023 is already shaping up to be an auspicious year. According to estimates by the Airlines of America association, US airlines should have carried some 158 million passengers in January and February this year, more than in 2019. The positive trend is expected to continue for the rest of the year.
According to OAG, the number of seats offered this summer will be 6% higher than in 2019715.6 million seats. The airlines posting the biggest increases are Spirit Airlines (+42.8% compared with 2019), Southwest Airlines (+16.4%) and United Airlines (+3.3%). By contrast, American Airlines will post a more modest increase in its seat capacity (+1.2%), while Delta Air Lines will stagnate (-0.2%).
