Domestic Flights Were Nearly Empty, But More Are Flying Now

The pandemic emptied out domestic U.S. flights in April, with passengers filling up an average of 10 seats per flight compared with 98 in February. In the past few weeks, that number has grown to 39 passengers per flight. The numbers are seven-day rolling averages and are reported by member passenger airlines of the industry group Airlines for America on a consolidated company basis and includes their branded code-share partners.

Notes

Data only include members of the industry group Airlines for America, which are Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines, FedEx, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and UPS. The number of airplane seats was modeled after American Airbus 321 with 181 seats. A typical narrow-body jet ranges from 140 to 200 seats.