Friday, November 12, 2010

Air Traffic Increasing; Airplanes More Full Than Ever; Airlines Adding Capacity

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics says that passenger traffic on U.S. airlines was up 1.8 percent in August (compared with August 2009), to a total of 66.2 million enplanements on domestic and international flights.

Showing that all those reports about drastic airline constriction are wrong, overall available seating capacity rose 2.4 percent. And airplanes are, as anyone who flies regularly knows well, more crowded than ever. In August, airplanes were on the average 85 percent full, a record. On most flights, as we all know well, there isn't a single open seat (and hasn't been for well over a year).

However, the August 2010 passenger total was 2.4 percent below that of two years ago in August 2008.

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics is an agency of the Transportation Department.

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