Air travel dives

Related to one of the Fresh Talk poll questions this week on business travel, here are the latest numbers from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics on air travel.


January 15, 2009 - The number of scheduled domestic and international passengers on U.S. airlines during October 2008 declined by 7.1 percent from October 2007, dropping by 4.6 million to 59.6 million, in the 8th consecutive monthly decline from the same month of the previous year, the Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today reported (Table 1). The October system passenger number was the lowest October number since 2003.

BTS, a part of DOT's Research and Innovative Technology Administration, in a release of preliminary data, reported that U.S. airlines carried 7.5 percent fewer domestic passengers than in October 2007. The October domestic passenger number was the lowest October number since 2003. International passengers on U.S. carriers decreased 3.6 percent.