The global airline industry saw an estimated 2.2 billion passengers boarded in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects overall traveler numbers to reach 4.0 billion in 2024, counting multi-sector connecting trips. In terms of passenger numbers, these flights are estimated to ferry 2.8 billion passengers in 2021. Market projections place the figure at 16.4 million airline flights in 2020 post-COVID 19. The number of domestic and global airline flights worldwide is an estimated 22.2 million in 2021.
For the full year 2022, US airlines carried 853 million passengers (unadjusted), up from 658 million in 2021 and 388 million in 2020. This represents the total rather than unique passenger activity, meaning a person who makes multiple trips is counted multiple times. The global aviation industry is already marked as a billion-dollar industry, with millions of people traveling every day.
Yearly flights were 16,405,000 (10 million scheduled passenger flights), with annual passengers being approximately 1 billion. TSA checkpoint travel numbers are updated Monday through Friday by 9 am. The number of flights performed globally by the airline industry has increased steadily since the early 2000s, reaching 38.9 million in 2019. The total number of passengers carried on scheduled services rose to 4.5 billion in 2019, which is 3.6% higher than the previous year.
In conclusion, the global airline industry has experienced significant growth since the early 2000s, with the number of passengers carrying on scheduled services increasing by 3.6% in 2019.
📹 Flight Secrets That Are Never Told To Passengers
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Which country flies the most?
The United States has the most direct flight routes in the world, with over 680 airports and the largest airlines. It is also one of the top 10 most populous nations globally, with the largest number of airports worldwide.
What percentage of the population has never flown?
Around 90% of the world’s population does not fly annually, with less than 80 percent of the population having never flown before. In 2017, Boeing’s CEO predicted that 100 million Asians would fly for the first time in their lives in a single year, driving growth in the sector. Estimates suggest this could represent a third of all passengers by 2050. French people fly less than once a year, with only 29 of them flying at least once a year. Ademe predicts an upward trend in the proportion of people who don’t fly for leisure, rising from 36 to 56 in five years, despite other responses less favorable to this type of action.
What percentage of the US has flown?
In 2023, approximately 90% of Americans have flown commercially, with adults aged 25-39 exhibiting the highest propensity to fly. A majority of Americans with household incomes below $50, 000 have flown. The majority of passengers expressed satisfaction with their air travel experience, with price and schedule being the primary factors influencing their satisfaction.
How many times does the average person travel in a year?
Americans take 2. 5 vacations annually, and as summer approaches, millions are planning their 2024 trips. A survey involving Talker Research and 1, 000 Americans revealed popular travel destinations, preferences for accommodations, and travel plans. The survey also revealed Americans’ biggest travel fears and provided tips to avoid disasters. The study also revealed that beaches are the most popular travel destinations. The findings provide insights into American travel trends, tips for planning and paying for vacations, and offer valuable insights for travelers looking to enjoy their time in the sun.
What percent of Americans have never flown?
A recent report from Forbes Magazine indicates that 13% of Americans have never traveled by airplane. In order to assist these novice travelers, the article presents five fundamental strategies for exploring the country and other countries. It is important for the first-time passenger to be aware that the Boeing 767 is prepared for a non-stop flight from CVG to Paris.
How many planes fly over us every day?
The FAA’s Air Traffic Organization (ATO) oversees the operation of over 45, 000 daily flights, with over 5, 400 aircraft in the air at any given time. This provides essential services to the aviation industry.
How often does the average person travel by plane?
The average American can expect to take around 208 flights in their lifetime, but this number is not exact and does not account for factors like occupation, income, location, or disability. The data set does not include flights operated by international carriers, which could increase the number. Some people may fly more or less than others, and some may not fly at all. The average represents an opportunity for air carriers to develop products that encourage frequent travel for disabled people.
When air travel becomes more accessible, ticket bookings from the disability community will skyrocket. The business case for accessibility is causing airlines to question when they will remove barriers to flying and embrace air travel for all.
How many plane crashes per year?
Plane travel is considered one of the safest modes of transportation, but accidents can be catastrophic. In the United States, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) estimates that in 2007, nearly 24 million flight hours were involved in aviation accidents. Of these, 6. 84 of every 100, 000 flight hours resulted in an airplane crash, and 1. 19 of every 100, 000 resulted in a fatal crash. This is down from an all-time high of 9. 08 accidents per 100, 000 hours in 1994.
Private flights have seen a decline since the 1980s, but lax government regulation and non-reporting make it harder to document these accidents. User error and insufficient training contribute to many more accidents than are necessary each year.
What percentage of Americans fly each year?
The Air Travelers in America (A4A) annual survey, conducted by Ipsos, has revealed that a significant portion of the American population has never flown on an airplane. The survey, which was conducted from January 4-12, 2024, surveyed 3, 452 adults aged 18 or older to identify those who have flown on an airplane. The A4A has been conducting this survey since the early 1970s, with the last survey conducted in 1998.
The survey found that approximately half of the airline trips taken by Americans in the 1970s and 1980s were for business purposes. In recent years, the split has shifted towards 25-30% business and 70-75 percent personal.
What percentage of people have traveled by plane?
It is estimated that between 40 and 50 percent of the global population has flown in an aircraft at least once in their lifetime. However, this percentage can vary significantly based on a number of factors, including region, economic development, air travel access, and cultural norms.
How many people go on a plane every year?
The global airline industry experienced a 50% loss in air passenger traffic in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, with just over 2. 2 billion passengers boarded. Despite this, the number of scheduled passengers has increased in the last decade, except for charter flights. The Asia Pacific region had the highest share of airline passenger traffic in 2019, accounting for one-third of the global total.
The growth in air travel is attributed to three main reasons: the increase in low-cost carriers, the growth of the global middle class, particularly in China, which has increased the number of consumers able to afford air travel, and the growth in airport infrastructure spending, led by the Asia Pacific region, which has increased global carrying capacity.
📹 How Airlines Decide Where to Fly
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I think you forgot to mention cargo. Even though paying passengers (and their luggage) contribute to a route, how much additional cargo an airline can ship between two places is also very important to a flight’s continuation. There are routes out there that fly few passengers but a ton of cargo that make a lot of money for an airline.
Hey Wendover, just want to say that I super appreciate the cited sources. As a pilot myself, I always find it hard to believe some YouTubers making articles like these because there just isn’t a good sense of from where the information came. That’s why I have really been enjoying the annotations in your recent articles; I’m always sure to leave a like. I know it must be a lot of extra work to include the sources, so I just want to ensure that you know they’re very much appreciated. Keep up the amazing work!
Can never wait to click when you upload! Especially when it’s about planes! Wendover was actually my inspiration to deep dive into the economical and strategic aspects of aviation and you therefore played a significant part in the planning of my career which has now eventually led me to management consulting in the field of aerospace and defense. Thank you so much for igniting that flame and the impact you’ve made, Sam! I truly wish you’ll do the same for many more of your viewers with your passion and expertise on otherwise overlooked topics that you manage to deliver so inspiringly on your website(s)! Keep them coming, mate! Cheers
BTW. Southwest Oregon Regional Airport is not in Vancouver, Canada. It’s on the southwest coast of Oregon. So move that point at 3:55 down by several miles. Also, what about “paused routes.” For example: at PDX during the summer months, delta has nonstop service between Portland and London, but when the summer months end, the route stops… until next summer when they open it again. Iceland air does a similar thing on their Reykjavik to San Francisco and Los Angeles routes. And Condor also does it on their Frankfurt to Toronto, Seattle, Vancouver, Portland, and Pittsburgh routes. What’s that about?
Despite the glaring irregularity of SW Oregon being in eastern British Columbia, I’m glad I watched this. I knew much less than I thought about how airline routes were chosen. As a two-time traveler to Iceland, I’m kind of sad that American was able to take the Dallas route from Iceland’s airlines. I prefer IcelandAir and have flown American internationally and enjoyed it, but RIP WOW. Also, there are a crapload of A320s in this article; not that I’m complaining!
4:04 United will add new routes if their is enough people going from Denver area airports. For example let’s say that every day United has 5 passengers going to Southwest Oregon from Aspen, 7 from Eagle, 6 from Whita, 20 from Chicago, 20 from New York, 8 from Oklahoma City, and 6 from Washington DC. That is about 70 passengers and on all of those routes it is less flying distance through Denver.
The location of SW Oregon Regional Airport on your map is located on the Washington State/Canada Border, however the actual location is about half of the distance shown and on the coastline. I understand it’s just to show basic routing for info purposes but I fly there so it’s something I couldn’t help but noticing. But great article overall 👍
Thanks for sharing! I liked Delta’s flight between Atlanta Ga. and Dubia UAE. At 16 hours heading west, it saved some time. I believe it was mainly used by contractors and state department folks. The flight was always full, east & west! It’s a mystery why delta discontinued that flight, 07 & 08. The only problem, was a lot of jet-lag! When leaving America, I found it helped the jet-lag, to stop in Europe for a couple of days. And got to know the best stewardess, Miss Mona Bell!
One thing crazy to me since my home airport is Chicago is that there is a nonstop flight from Chicago to Auckland, but there is not a flight from Chicago to Sydney, even though Qantas operates nonstop flights from Sydney to Los Angeles, Dallas, and New York, but after this article I realized that New Zealand is starting to become a popular tourist destination and no one would really take a nonstop flight from Chicago to Sydney.
It’s easy to see why British airways route from London to New York City is so successful. In this case the two questions you mentioned can be answered quite easily: Not only are these cities the most important financial markets in their respective countries and continent, they actually take the top 2 spots for financial markets worldwide. Obviously, a lot of business travelers are traveling between these cities and as the flights are paid for by their companies, they are willing to pay a lot of money. In addition, both cities are among the densest populated on their continent and also a world known tourists destination, increasing the demand even more.
7:40 another factor I’d say is connecting opportunities or network access. China acts as a cheap one-stop option from Europe whereas Australia will only pick up New Zealanders heading north. Similar to why, say, Delta can make so many more routes to Amsterdam work than United, say (AF-KL partnership)
The only thing I questioned was about the importance of directionality. The example given (Chinese Airlines to Australia) seems like it’s not necessarily direction-related, since there’s a big cost difference. You’d probably find similar cases in the SE Asian & Middle Eastern airlines, even though their passengers are more likely to be Australian. My own experience in a decidedly secondary market is that people only fly domestic airlines if there’s no other choice. From small market airports, everyone wants to connect you to their hub. So domestic airlines fly to somewhere that will then only connect to the biggest destinations overseas, making most trips 2-stop. On top of that, you have need a longer layover because you have to deal with customs & immigration at the domestic hub instead of just at the end of your trip. Fly an international airline to their own hub, and it’s probably closer to where you’re going (more 1-stop options) and the trip home avoids clearing customs in the middle.
Wendover Productions. One thing to think about is the alliances the airlines you mentioned are in. Delta airlines and American airlines are in alliances with okay airlines, with the exception of Cathay Pacific in OneWorld. United airlines, on the other had, is in the Star Alliance. Star alliance has 5 of the top 10 airlines, including the overall best airline in Singapore Airlines, in the world and also has the most members of any of the three alliances.
Your work is awesome sir – please keep going. On this subject, Joint Venture and Alliance partners are a factor – Delta can reach all of Australia via SYD via their partner VA, SQ can reach all of the US via JFK, EWR, LAX, SFO and SEA via their partners UA, B6 and AS. The complexities of Alliances, Joint Ventures and loyalty programs factor in here – may I suggest these as a future topic?
I bought a ticket to Boston To LAX roundtrip both NonStop 3-4 months prior to the flight. My plan was to stay for 1 week at LA. One month before the flight to LAX I got a message saying your LAX to Boston, back home trip, is no more a Non-stop. They had one hr transit at some airport. I was so confused why had this happened when I paid the Non-Stop price. I got the answer to why they did this. It was because the plane only had like 20-30 ppl onboard from LAX to Boston. They stopped at the transit airport and filled more passengers on the same plane and literally used the same terminal. They just changed the Crew.
That’s why from a planning perspective, it’s great to have a large single hub like Turkish Airlines’ IST, Emirates’ DXB or KLM’s AMS; in order to avoid deciding between the hubs when it comes to adding new flights… With that said, U.S. geography and aviation is so vast that a multi-hub model is needed.
Great article, perfect example of the bubble burst on KEF-DFW. AA is rumored to upgrade the flight from seasonal to year round now that their competition is gone from the route. I’m a bit surprised they still haven’t started PHL-KEF when Icelandair is on the route. I guess they’re fine with them going to PHL. Keflavik has been hell for the aviation market. Insane capacity adds from KEF and many have gotten cut. If I’m not mistaken, here’s a short run down. WOW: DFW, LAX, SFO, CVG, CLE, MIA, STL, TLV, DEL. They added YVR/MCO but I don’t even think they started. Icelandair cut DFW and that’s about it I believe? With WOW using its overcapacity a330 and low fares, they weren’t able to fill them up to a substantial amount and lost out on a ton. WOW air originally had 90%+ load factors when they first started DFW but quickly declined into the 50s-60s in its last few weeks of its seasonal operation. The winter hurt the market terribly. Icelandair didn’t do too badly utilizing its 757s. They had around 70-80% load factors on their flights throughout their “yearly operation” but unfortunately cut the route one month earlier than intended.
From my experiences, if I travel from a non-hub city to a hub city abroad (e.g. Canberra to Los Angeles), I will choose a local airline such as Qantas. Because I can check my baggage all the way to LAX via Sydney, and less worrying about what if my flight from Canberra to Sydney will be delayed or cancelled. Because if so Qantas will put me in alternative flights for free or offer me a free hotel room. Same theory applies on trips from a hub city to a non-hub city (e.g. Sydney to Louisville). A US airline will be considered in this case.
One thing that drives me nuts is when a direct ticket to a destination costs more than a ticket to a different destination with a plane change in the original destination. For example, you can often fly JFK to Frankfurt with a connection in Munich, for less than JFK to Munich alone. And no, you can’t just be a no show for the MUC-FRA leg, because they will then cancel the rest of the ticket.
I guess BA were able to easily calculate how many people wanted direct London to Durban travel as most would go via Johannesburg, and then take the BA run Comair flight to Durban. We took the direct flight earlier in the year and it was full both ways. Certainly better than transiting through JNB or UAE.
quiver: PEK-LAX is consistently cheaper in biz on United (stopover in SFO) than on Air China. I recently paid CNY11,000 vs.20,000. They may have to charge less because of the stopover but I think they also have to charge less because they offer lesser quality and hence give pax little to no other reason for choosing them.
You’d be surprised how many Australians would rather fly on Jestar/Virgin or on international carriers as opposed to Qantas. There’s nothing “bad” about Qantas, it’s just that Qantas are in this weird middle spot where they’re not as cheap as Jetstar or AirAsia, and the service isn’t as good as Singapore Airlines or Emirates (which also service Australia).
Man, right now, I’ll often wait until the time suits me best to watch a new article from a subscriber that I like, but you and engineering explained are both websites that I will just immediately click onto because your articles are always top notch in terms of quality and enjoyability! Also I bloody love HAI! <3