Domestic and foreign airlines serving the United States carried a record number of passengers in 2016, increasing 3.5 percent over 2015. U.S.-serving carriers transported a combined total of 928.9 million domestic and international passengers, up from 897.9 million the year before.
Southwest Airlines overtook American Airlines as the largest U.S. carrier by passenger volume in 2016, according to Department of Transportation figures.
Southwest carried more than 151.7 million passengers in 2016, up from 144.6 million in 2015. That roughly 5 percent increase pushed Southwest ahead of American, whose passenger traffic declined 1.6 percent year over year to 144.2 million. American’s 2015 totals included flights from merger partner US Airways, now fully integrated into American’s operations.
Delta Air Lines increased its passenger volume by about 3.2 percent, transporting 143.1 million travelers and finishing just behind American. United Airlines posted a 5 percent increase in passenger volume and exceeded 100 million passengers for the first time, securing the fourth position among U.S. carriers.
Smaller U.S. carriers flew significantly fewer passengers. JetBlue grew passenger traffic by roughly 9 percent but carried only about 38.2 million travelers. Regional and low-cost carriers logged the following 2016 passenger totals: SkyWest with 31.2 million, Alaska Airlines with 24.4 million, ExpressJet with 22.2 million, Spirit with 21 million and Frontier with 14.8 million. Spirit recorded the largest growth rate among these carriers at 19.1 percent, while ExpressJet experienced a notable decline, carrying about 14.7 percent fewer passengers than in 2015.
On international routes serving the United States, American Airlines remained the largest carrier, followed by United, Delta, JetBlue, British Airways, Lufthansa, WestJet, Air Canada, Virgin Atlantic and Air France. Among foreign carriers operating to and from the U.S., British Airways carried the most passengers in 2016.