TFI monitors airline performance across the world.  In the chart below the change against the previous year is shown for the international (left hand side) and domestic airlines (right hand side) in the USA.  The upper charts show the performance for freight (change in freight ton miles), and the lower charts the performance for passenger traffic (change in passenger enplanements).

Note that the freight declines have been substantially greater than passenger declines for both international and domestic airline markets.  It also appears that the impact of the Global Financial Crisis was felt in the freight sector earlier than the passenger sector – a trend TFI has discerned in many countries. 

The positive news from the charts is that the rate of decline has continued to slow – from around March/April 2009 - for both the domestic and international markets.
 

US Air Traffic Performance, Change Against Previous Year
for Rolling Quarters April 2006 to November 2009
 

Source: TFI based on U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

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