The number of flights performed globally by the airline industry has increased steadily since the early 2000s and reached 38.9 million in 2019. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the number of flights dropped to 18.3 million in 2020. The flight volume increased again in the following years and was forecasted to reach 38.7 million in 2024. The global airline industry The number of flights performed increased year-on-year continuously to transport both passengers and freight. The industry’s recent growth can be attributed to a combination of increasing living standards and decreasing costs of air travel. While North American and European airlines currently dominate in terms of both revenue and passengers flown, it is predicted that future growth will be highest in markets of Asia.

In 2023, the estimated number of scheduled passengers boarded by the global airline industry amounted to approximately 4.5 billion people. This represents a significant increase compared to the previous year since the pandemic started and the positive trend was forecast to continue in 2024, with the scheduled passenger volume reaching just below five billion travelers. Airline passenger traffic The number of scheduled passengers handled by the global airline industry has increased in all but one of the last decade. Scheduled passengers refer to the number of passengers who have booked a flight with a commercial airline. Excluded are passengers on charter flights, whereby an entire plane is booked by a private group. In 2023, the Asia Pacific region had the highest share of airline passenger traffic, accounting for one third of the global total.

Daily data showing UK flight numbers and rolling seven-day average, including flights to, from, and within the UK. These are official statistics in development. Source: EUROCONTROL.

The average for 2021 based on 152 countries was 15 million passengers. The highest value was in the USA: 666.15 million passengers and the lowest value was in Guatemala: 0 million passengers. The indicator is available from 1970 to 2021. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

In 2023, U.S. airlines recorded 862.8 million passengers on domestic and international flights. The number of passengers at U.S. airports has begun recovering following the COVID-19 pandemic but was still below the approximately 926.4 million passengers recorded in 2019.

India All Scheduled Airlines: International: Number of Flight data was reported at 18,574.000 Unit in Jan 2025. This records an increase from the previous number of 18,324.000 Unit for Dec 2024. India All Scheduled Airlines: International: Number of Flight data is updated monthly, averaging 7,783.000 Unit from Apr 2001 (Median) to Jan 2025, with 281 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 18,574.000 Unit in Jan 2025 and a record low of 273.000 Unit in May 2020. India All Scheduled Airlines: International: Number of Flight data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Directorate General of Civil Aviation. The data is categorized under India Premium Database’s Transportation, Post and Telecom Sector – Table IN.TA019: Airline Statistics: All Scheduled Airlines.

Passengers enplaned and deplaned at Canadian airports, annual.

In 2023, U.S. airlines carried around 819.3 million passengers on domestic flights across the United States. This was an increase from the roughly 750.6 million domestic passengers carried by U.S. airlines in the previous year.

Russia Number of Flights data was reported at 106,742.000 Number in Feb 2022. This records a decrease from the previous number of 119,379.000 Number for Jan 2022. Russia Number of Flights data is updated monthly, averaging 117,995.000 Number from Jan 2010 (Median) to Feb 2022, with 146 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 189,980.000 Number in Aug 2019 and a record low of 53,348.000 Number in Apr 2020. Russia Number of Flights data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Federal Agency for Air Transport. The data is categorized under Russia Premium Database’s Transport and Telecommunications Sector – Table RU.TE003: Airlines Statistics: Number of Airlines, Aircrafts, Airports and Flights. [COVID-19-IMPACT]

Domestic air carriers boarded more than 111 million passengers in Russia in 2024. Overall in that year, the passenger traffic increased by around six percent from 2023. In 2025, the passenger count was expected to decline.

Data on flight movements, passengers, cargo and mail at Dutch airports.

Summary of the contents of the EU figure in this publication: The composition of the European Union (EU-15) until 2004: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom. In 2005 the European Union (EU-25) expanded with: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. In 2007 Bulgaria and Romania have been added (EU-27). In 2014 Croatia was added (EU-28). As of February 2020 the United Kingdom has left the European Union.

Data available from: Annual figures available from 1997; monthly figures available from January 1999.

Status of the figures: The figures are final up to and including 2022, 2023 and for the current year are provisional.

Up to and including December 2020 the figures of EU countries include data for the UK. This to guarantee the comparability of the data. As of January 2021 data for the UK are included in the figures of "other Europe".

As of 8 November 2022 the figures for Eindhoven airport for the reporting period April, May and June 2022 have been adjusted as a result of additional information. As a result, the marginal totals for the months of April, May and June 2022 have also been adjusted.

Due to renovation work on the runway at Maastricht Aachen Airport, there was no air traffic at this airport from 8 May 2023 to 30 June 2023.

Changes as of 14 March 2025: The figures for January 2025 have been added.

When will figures become available? The monthly figures are published as a rule 1 month after the end of the reporting month.

China CN; Air: Number of Flight: Domestic data was reported at 2,467,400.000 Unit in 2022. This records a decrease from the previous number of 3,855,300.000 Unit for 2021. China CN; Air: Number of Flight: Domestic data is updated yearly, averaging 2,016,565.000 Unit from Dec 1999 (Median) to 2022, with 21 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 4,477,800.000 Unit in 2019 and a record low of 562,203.000 Unit in 1999. China CN; Air: Number of Flight: Domestic data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Civil Aviation Administration of China. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Transportation and Storage Sector – Table CN.TI: Air: Number of Flight.

Motivation

The data in this dataset is derived and cleaned from the full OpenSky dataset to illustrate the development of air traffic during the COVID-19 pandemic. It spans all flights seen by the network's more than 2500 members since 1 January 2019. More data has been periodically included in the dataset until the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We stopped updating the dataset after December 2022. Previous files have been fixed after a thorough sanity check.

License

See LICENSE.txt

Disclaimer

The data provided in the files is provided as is. Despite our best efforts at filtering out potential issues, some information could be erroneous.

Origin and destination airports are computed online based on the ADS-B trajectories on approach/takeoff: no crosschecking with external sources of data has been conducted. Fields origin or destination are empty when no airport could be found.

Aircraft information come from the OpenSky aircraft database. Fields typecode and registration are empty when the aircraft is not present in the database.

Description of the dataset

One file per month is provided as a csv file with the following features:

callsign: the identifier of the flight displayed on ATC screens (usually the first three letters are reserved for an airline: AFR for Air France, DLH for Lufthansa, etc.)

number: the commercial number of the flight, when available (the matching with the callsign comes from public open API); this field may not be very reliable;

icao24: the transponder unique identification number;

registration: the aircraft tail number (when available);

typecode: the aircraft model type (when available);

origin: a four letter code for the origin airport of the flight (when available);

destination: a four letter code for the destination airport of the flight (when available);

firstseen: the UTC timestamp of the first message received by the OpenSky Network;

lastseen: the UTC timestamp of the last message received by the OpenSky Network;

day: the UTC day of the last message received by the OpenSky Network;

latitude_1, longitude_1, altitude_1: the first detected position of the aircraft;

latitude_2, longitude_2, altitude_2: the last detected position of the aircraft.

Examples

Possible visualisations and a more detailed description of the data are available at the following page: https://traffic-viz.github.io/gallery/covid19.html

Credit

If you use this dataset, please cite:

Martin Strohmeier, Xavier Olive, Jannis Lübbe, Matthias Schäfer, and Vincent Lenders "Crowdsourced air traffic data from the OpenSky Network 2019–2020" Earth System Science Data 13(2), 2021 https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-357-2021

China Air: Passenger Traffic: Domestic data was reported at 664.657 Person mn in 2024. This records an increase from the previous number of 590.516 Person mn for 2023. China Air: Passenger Traffic: Domestic data is updated yearly, averaging 95.618 Person mn from Dec 1970 (Median) to 2024, with 42 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 664.657 Person mn in 2024 and a record low of 0.210 Person mn in 1970. China Air: Passenger Traffic: Domestic data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Civil Aviation Administration of China. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Transportation and Storage Sector – Table CN.TI: Air: Passenger Traffic.

In 2023, the United Kingdom was the leading country in terms of air traffic, with a total of 5,290 daily arrivals and departures. Spain ranked second on the list, with 4,616 daily flights.

Introduction

Airlines Statistics: The global aviation industry is worth billions of dollars, with millions of people flying every day. Many travelers enjoy visiting countries that don't require a visa, while others choose destinations that require one before arrival. The aviation industry isn’t just about passenger flights—it also includes cargo, which helps deliver international orders.

Online stores like Amazon have benefited greatly from air travel because it lets customers order products from anywhere and have them delivered in just 2 to 3 weeks. These interesting Airline Statistics include both global and U.S. insights, and at the end, you can enjoy a fun feature that lets you track live air traffic worldwide.

In 2021, around 440.6 million passengers traveled by air in China, an increase of 5.5 percent compared to the previous year. This indicated a slight recovery in the aviation industry since the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in 2020.

Air travel in China

As a significant international hub for both business and leisure travel, China’s airports are sites of bustling activity with cargo and passengers being transported in and out of the nation every day. Air travel is a very time-efficient mode of transportation. More and more people in China's socio-economic strata can afford air travel, which has led to the expansion of the nation’s air fleet. Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, the number of flight hours surged by a significant degree with China Southern which is owned by China Southern Air Holding Group, reaching nearly three million flight hours in 2019.

The aviation industry shows recovery

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 led to massive losses for the Chinese aviation industry, with the cancellation of several flights to and from China. For the first time in the last decade or so, China experienced a decline in the volume of air passengers and air cargo. The industry recovered in 2021 with a 5.5 percent year-over-year increase in air passenger numbers and an 8.2 percent year-over-year increase in air cargo. Furthermore, the industry was predicted to have enhanced employment opportunities between 2021and 2040, with a growing demand for cabin crews, technicians, and pilots.

Context

The U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) tracks the on-time performance of domestic flights operated by large air carriers. Summary information on the number of on-time, delayed, canceled and diverted flights appears in DOT's monthly Air Travel Consumer Report, published about 30 days after the month's end, as well as in on-time data posted on this website.

Content

A flight is considered delayed if it is late by more than 15 minutes.

Factors considered: Year: The year of the flight (all records are from 2013) Month: The month of the flight DayofMonth: The day of the month on which the flight departed DayOfWeek: The day of the week on which the flight departed - from 1 (Monday) to 7 (Sunday) Carrier: The two-letter abbreviation for the airline. OriginAirportID: A unique numeric identifier for the departure aiport OriginAirportName: The full name of the departure airport OriginCity: The departure airport city OriginState: The departure airport state DestAirportID: A unique numeric identifier for the destination aiport DestAirportName: The full name of the destination airport DestCity: The destination airport city DestState: The destination airport state CRSDepTime: The scheduled departure time DepDelay: The number of minutes departure was delayed (flight that left ahead of schedule have a negative value) DelDelay15: A binary indicator that departure was delayed by more than 15 minutes (and therefore considered "late") CRSArrTime: The scheduled arrival time ArrDelay: The number of minutes arrival was delayed (flight that arrived ahead of schedule have a negative value) ArrDelay15: A binary indicator that arrival was delayed by more than 15 minutes (and therefore considered "late") Cancelled: A binary indicator that the flight was cancelled

Acknowledgements

The flight delay and cancellation data was collected and published by the DOT's Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

This dataset contains the records of all the flights in the Northern California TRACON. The data was provided by the aircraft noise abatement office (http://www.flyquietsfo.com/) of San Francisco International Airport. The data cover Jan-Mar 2006. It is organized by day and flight. Each record contains some information about the flight and a sequence of 3D position and estimated speed.

This data contains thousands of trajectories that can be used for trajectory clustering. The data is used by the Aircraft Noise Abatement Office to analyze the trajectories of aircraft flying in and out SFO. The objective is to minimize the noise pollution due to aircraft in the San Francisco Bay Area

The files have the extension "lt6" and are organized as follow, one file per day.

line number & explaination

1 TRACK OPNUM (TRACK header word and operation number)
2 eventid (Corralation number)
3 trackstart date (in time since 1900, A8 version four year digit)
4 trackstart time HH:MM:SS


5 trackend time HH:MM:SS
6 airportid
7 ACID (FLIGHTNUM/TAILNUMBER)
8 owner name
9 aircrafttype
10 aircraft category
11 beacon
12 adflag
13 waypoint
14 other_port (dest/origin)
15 runwayname


16 min alt
17 max alt
18 min range
19 max range
20 Count of trackpoints (to follow)
21 x,y,z,v,t (all points is meters relative to MRP, velocity and time from start of track)

Number of flight passengers according to day of the week. Map types: Symbols, Charts. Spatial extent: Switzerland. Times: 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2020. Distinction: Total, Scheduled flight, Charter/Taxi flight