| Monthly U.S. Domestic Airline Flights | ||
| 2002/2003 Flights |
2003/2004 Flights | |
| March | 806,156 | 814,340 |
| February | 678,865 | 746,025 |
| January | 792,585 | 772,226 |
| December | 789,099 | 779,837 |
| November | 823,070 | 778,972 |
| October | 886,126 | 852,544 |
The scale of air traffic and the AviationSmog it creates by burning many billions of gallons of fuel each year is truly immense. In 2000 there were 8,951,773 commercial aircraft departures in the United States alone. Using simple division that's 24,525 per day, 1,021 per hour, 17 per minute. (Large certificated air carriers operate aircraft with more than 60 seats or a maximum payload capacity of more than 18,000 pounds. Data for commuter, intrastate, and foreign-flag air carriers are not included in this publication.)
| Annual U.S. Domestic Airline Departures and Passengers | ||
| Departures | Passengers | |
| 2000 | 8,951,773 | 638,902,993 |
| 1999 | 8,605,486 | 610,628,716 |
|
Jet Fuel Consumption by Certificated Air Carriers Gallons, Domestic operations only, BTS | |
| 1960 | 1,954,000,000 |
| 1965 | 3,889,000,000 |
| 1970 | 7,857,000,000 |
| 1975 | 7,558,000,000 |
| 1980 | 8,519,000,000 |
| 1985 | 10,115,000,000 |
| 1990 | 12,429,000,000 |
| 1991 | 11,506,000,000 |
| 1992 | 11,763,000,000 |
| 1993 | 11,959,000,000 |
| 1994 | 12,476,000,000 |
| 1995 | 12,812,000,000 |
| 1996 | 13,187,000,000 |
| 1997 | 13,660,000,000 |
| 1998 | 13,877,000,000 |
| 1999 | 14,402,000,000 |
| 2000 | 14,845,000,000 |
| 2001 | 14,017,000,000 |
| 2002 | 12,848,000,000 |
| 2003 | 12,959,000,000 |
| 2004 | 13,623,000,000 |
| 2005 | 13,789,000,000 |
| 2006 | 13,458,000,000 |
| Top 10 Airlines, ranked by March 2004 Domestic Enplanements | ||
| Rank | Airline | Passengers |
| 1 | Southwest Airlines | 7,089,890 |
| 2 | Delta Air Lines | 6,947,233 |
| 3 | American Airlines | 6,425,910 |
| 4 | United Airlines | 5,029,770 |
| 5 | Northwest Airlines | 4,021,053 |
| 6 | US Airways | 3,335,691 |
| 7 | Continental Airlines | 2,762,806 |
| 8 | America West Airlines | 1,710,680 |
| 9 | American Eagle Airlines | 1,166,685 |
| 10 | Alaska Airlines | 1,159,678 |
| U.S. airlines carried 54.2 million domestic passengers on 814,340 flights in March 2004, 7.4 percent more than in March 2003.—BTS 15-04 | ||