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U.S. Airline Passenger Numbers Fall to 1985 Levels

Edward Russell

Photo Credit: U.S. traveler numbers fell to levels unseen since 1985.  Delta Air Lines / Courtesy of Delta

Skift Take

It was back to the future for U.S. airlines in 2020 when passenger numbers fell to levels unseen since 1985. And while traffic will likely rebound some this year, the slow vaccine roll out and new Covid-19 strains have the outlook far from certain.

U.S. carriers have known they would take a record hit in 2020 since at least March when United Airlines unveiled the first broad-based capacity cuts as early fears of the coronavirus pandemic mounted. Now we know just how bad the year was. The U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics has released its preliminary 2020 passenger numbers and the results are stark. Airlines carried just 368 million flyers during the year compared to nearly 923 million in 2019. That represents a dramatic 60 percent drop from one year to the next. Put anothe

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