U.S. International Air Passenger Traffic Report in First Half of 2012

Office of Travel and Tourism Industries (OTTI) under U.S. Department of Commerce reported the total international arrival and departure air traffic up 9 percent in first half of 2012.

Performance metrics reported are: total air travel (arrivals + departures), the mix of U.S. citizen and foreign citizen air travelers, U.S. flag and foreign flag carriers and top U.S. and foreign airports.

Summary of January through June 2012:

International air traffic to/from the United States (1) totaled 86.35 million passengers from January through June 2012, a nine percent increase over the same period in 2011.

U.S. citizen air travel (39.0 million) increased five percent and comprised 45 percent of all air traffic. Foreign national (non-U.S. citizen) air travelers (47.3 million) increased by 11 percent, representing 55 percent of the total market.

U.S. airlines carried 47.1 million passengers, up six percent, however their share slipped from 56 to 55 percent. Foreign flags carried 39.3 million passengers, up 12 percent from January-June 2011, increasing their share to 45 percent.

U.S. - International	Passengers (mlns)	% Chg y-o-y	Market Share	% Pt change
U.S. Citizens	39.039	5%	45%	-2
Foreign Nationals	47.309	11%	55%	+2
U.S. Flag Carriers (2)	47.065	6%	55%	-1
Foreign Flag Carriers	39.283	12%	45%	+1

International consists of overseas, Canada and Mexico regions, as follows:

Overseas air traffic accounted for 64.0 million passengers, 74 percent of all international air traffic. U.S. citizen travel (29.7 million) increased six percent and comprised 46 percent of all air traffic. Foreign national air travelers (34.3 million) increased by 12 percent, increasing market share to 54 percent, a two percentage point increase in share between 2011 and 2012.

U.S. airlines carried 33.5 million passengers, up seven percent, however their share dropped from 53 to 52 percent. Foreign flags carried 30.5 million passengers, up 11 percent from the first six months of 2011. Their traffic share increased to 48 percent.

U.S. - Overseas Regions	Passengers (mlns)	% Chg y-o-y	Market Share	% Pt change
U.S. Citizens	29.736	6%	46%	-2
Foreign Nationals	34.276	12%	54%	+2
U.S. Flag Carriers	33.532	7%	52%	-1
Foreign Flag Carriers	30.477	11%	48%	+1

Total air traffic to/from overseas regions performed as follows:

Overseas Regions	Passengers (mlns)	% of all International
Europe	24.667	29%
Asia	13.041	15%
Caribbean	9.690	11%
South America	6.446	7%
Central America	4.595	5%
Middle East	2.965	3%
Oceania	1.929	2%
Africa	0.668	1%

North American markets (Canada and Mexico) accounted for 26 percent of U.S. international air traffic flows.

U.S.-Canada air traffic accounted for 12.3 million passengers, 14 percent of all international traffic. U.S. citizen travel (2.8 million) increased six percent and comprised only 23 percent of all air traffic. Canadian and other foreign national citizen air travelers (9.4 million) increased by seven percent with their market share resulting at 77 percent.

U.S. flags carried 5.4 million passengers, up three percent, and their share dropped from 46 to 45 percent. Foreign flags carried 6.8 million passengers, up 10 percent increasing share to 58 percent.

U.S. - Canada	Passengers (mlns)	% Chg y-o-y	Market Share	% Pt change
U.S. Citizens	2.843	6%	23%	0
Foreign Nationals	9.445	7%	77%	0
U.S. Flag Carriers	5.483	3%	45%	-1
Foreign Flag Carriers	6.805	10%	55%	+1

U.S. - Mexico air traffic accounted for 10.0 million passengers, 12 percent of all U.S. - international traffic, and was up seven percent. U.S. citizen travel (6.5 million) increased three percent and comprised 64 percent of all air traffic. Foreign national air travelers (3.6 million) increased by 15 percent increasing their market share to 36 percent.

U.S. flags carried 8.1 million passengers, up two percent from last year, and their share dropped from 84 to 80 percent. Foreign flags carried 2.0 million passengers, up 33 percent increasing share to 20 percent.

U.S. - Mexico	Passengers (mlns)	% Chg y-o-y	Market Share	% Pt change
U.S. Citizens	6.460	3%	64%	-3
Foreign Nationals	3.589	15%	36%	+3
U.S. Flag Carriers	8.050	2%	80%	-4
Foreign Flag Carriers	2.000	33%	20%	+4

Top 10 Foreign Airports (Passenger Traffic to/from U.S.) June 2012 YTD:
Accounted for 43 Percent of All U.S. - International Air Traffic

		Passengers (millions)
1.	London Heathrow (LHR)	6.659
2.	Toronto (YYZ)	5.058
3.	Tokyo Narita (NRT)	4.561
4.	Cancun (CUN)	3.180
5.	Frankfurt (FRT)	3.054
6.	Paris/de Gaulle (CDG)	2.848
7.	Mexico City (MEX)	2.454
8.	Incheon (ICT)	2.288
9.	Vancouver (YVR)	2.189
10.	Amsterdam (AMS)	2.027
		34.318

Top 10 U.S. Airports (Passenger Traffic to/from Foreign Airports) June 2012 YTD:
Accounted for 70 Percent of All U.S. - International Air Traffic

		Passengers (Millions)
1.	New York (JFK)	11.876
2.	Miami (MIA)	9.493
3.	Los Angeles (LAX)	8.301
4.	Newark (EWR)	5.646
5.	Chicago (ORD)	5.111
6.	Atlanta (ATL)	4.838
7.	San Francisco (SFO)	4.476
8.	Houston (IAH)	4.359
9.	Washington Dulles (IAD)	3.163
10.	Dallas-Ft Worth (DFW)	2.836
		60.099

Top 10 Airlines Serving U.S. International Non-Stop Markets June 2012 YTD:
Accounted for 60 Percent of All U.S. - International Air Traffic

		Passengers (Millions)
1.	United Airlines*	11.879
2.	American Airlines	10.763
3.	Delta Air Lines	9.721
4.	US Airways	4.055
5.	Air Canada	3.349
6.	British Airways	3.203
7.	Continental*	2.536
8.	Lufthansa	2.246
9.	Jet Blue Airways	2.006
10.	West Jet	1.904
		51.662

* United Airlines and Continental merged operations on March 7th

In the immediate future OTTI will publish the June 2012 U.S. Citizen Outbound report, which contains total monthly travel, including the air segment, to Canada and Mexico. See May 2012: http://www.tinet.ita.doc.gov/view/m-2012-O-001/index.html.