US air travel declines for 14th straight month

Houston’s decline is slowing

Steve Hawley, Aug 18, 09.

US air travel declined 9.3 percent in May 2009 compared to one year earlier, according to the Houston Business Journal, marking the 14th straight month of declines.

The number of passengers fell from 65.9 million in May 2008 to 59.7 million in May 2009, a drop of 6.2 million passengers. The number of passengers on domestic flights fell 8.5 percent, while the drop in international passengers was even steeper, at almost 15 percent. The article reports that overall air travel was down about 9.5 percent during the first five months of 2009.

Regionally, more recent data from the Houston Airport System, reported in an Economic Indicators email update from the Greater Houston Partnership, shows that the steep declines seen last year and earlier this year in passenger and freight volumes within the Houston system are definitely slowing:

All major performance indicators for aviation show much smaller over-the-year losses in July than in the first half of ’09. Domestic and international passenger volumes were both off 2.1 percent in July, versus respective first-half declines of 8.9 and 6.8 percent. Landings and takeoffs were down 4.0 percent in July, compared with 7.9 percent in the prior six months. And air freight volume slid 8.5 percent in July, a solid improvement over the January-June loss of 13.8 percent.

See the full list of Houston Economic Indicators for August 21, 2009 from the Greater Houston Partnership.