Passenger Index / Airline Demand Index / Seats, passengers and load factor

US Airline Seats, Passengers and Load Factor

Domestic flights, every US airline, month by month · BTS T-100 through July 2026, estimates to October 2026 · how it is measured

Load factor

US domestic load factor by month, BTS T-100 and estimateUS domestic load factor, BTS T-100: 82.4% in Jul 2026; low 74.1% (Jan 2023), high 85.4% (Jun 2023). Estimate for Oct 2026: 75.9%.72%74%76%78%80%82%84%86%88%Jan 2023Jul 2023Jan 2024Jul 2024Jan 2025Jul 2025Jan 2026Jul 2026Load factor, BTS T-100Load factor, estimateAug 2026: 76.8% (estimate)Oct 2026: 75.9% (estimate)Jan 2023: load factor 74.1%Feb 2023: load factor 77.1%Mar 2023: load factor 81.9%Apr 2023: load factor 82.6%May 2023: load factor 83.1%Jun 2023: load factor 85.4%Jul 2023: load factor 85.2%Aug 2023: load factor 80.2%Sep 2023: load factor 79.8%Oct 2023: load factor 81.7%Nov 2023: load factor 81.0%Dec 2023: load factor 79.4%Jan 2024: load factor 76.0%Feb 2024: load factor 78.7%Mar 2024: load factor 82.6%Apr 2024: load factor 81.3%May 2024: load factor 83.7%Jun 2024: load factor 84.6%Jul 2024: load factor 84.5%Aug 2024: load factor 81.9%Sep 2024: load factor 78.9%Oct 2024: load factor 80.4%Nov 2024: load factor 78.9%Dec 2024: load factor 81.9%Jan 2025: load factor 75.0%Feb 2025: load factor 75.8%Mar 2025: load factor 78.7%Apr 2025: load factor 78.1%May 2025: load factor 80.6%Jun 2025: load factor 82.4%Jul 2025: load factor 82.9%Aug 2025: load factor 81.4%Sep 2025: load factor 78.9%Oct 2025: load factor 80.4%Nov 2025: load factor 76.3%Dec 2025: load factor 79.0%Jan 2026: load factor 74.2%Feb 2026: load factor 77.0%Mar 2026: load factor 79.9%Apr 2026: load factor 77.0%May 2026: load factor 80.0%Jun 2026: load factor 82.6%Jul 2026: load factor 82.4%Aug 2026: load factor 76.8% (estimate)Oct 2026: load factor 75.9% (estimate)Passenger Index
  • BTS T-100
  • Estimate
Passengers divided by seats, domestic flights. Hover or tap for each month.

US airlines filled 82.4% of their domestic seats in July 2026, the latest month BTS has published, against 82.9% a year earlier: 78.3M passengers on 95.1M seats, with seats -0.7% and passengers -1.3% year over year. Our estimate for October 2026 is 75.9%, -4.5 points on a year earlier, with seats +3.4% and passengers -2.5%.

Backtest, August 2023 to July 2026 (36 months): the estimated load factor missed BTS by 0.7 points a month on average (largest miss 2.0 points).

Seats and passengers, year over year

US domestic seats and passengers, year-over-year change by monthSeats: +13.3% in Jan 2023, +3.4% in Oct 2026; low -1.3% (Jun 2026), high +13.3% (Jan 2023). Passengers: +27.2% in Jan 2023, -1.3% in Jul 2026; low -3.3% (Nov 2025), high +27.2% (Jan 2023). Passengers, estimate: -1.3% in Jul 2026, -2.5% in Oct 2026; low -5.1% (Aug 2026), high -1.3% (Jul 2026).+0%+10%+20%Jan 2023Jul 2023Jan 2024Jul 2024Jan 2025Jul 2025Jan 2026Jul 2026SeatsPassengersPassengers, estimateJan 2023: Seats +13.3%; Passengers +27.2%Feb 2023: Seats +11.9%; Passengers +15.6%Mar 2023: Seats +10.1%; Passengers +7.9%Apr 2023: Seats +9.6%; Passengers +6.3%May 2023: Seats +10.0%; Passengers +6.6%Jun 2023: Seats +9.3%; Passengers +7.5%Jul 2023: Seats +8.1%; Passengers +8.5%Aug 2023: Seats +10.2%; Passengers +7.2%Sep 2023: Seats +8.9%; Passengers +5.8%Oct 2023: Seats +10.5%; Passengers +7.4%Nov 2023: Seats +8.7%; Passengers +7.3%Dec 2023: Seats +11.4%; Passengers +8.7%Jan 2024: Seats +0.1%; Passengers +2.6%Feb 2024: Seats +1.6%; Passengers +3.7%Mar 2024: Seats +3.9%; Passengers +4.7%Apr 2024: Seats +5.6%; Passengers +4.0%May 2024: Seats +5.2%; Passengers +5.9%Jun 2024: Seats +7.1%; Passengers +6.1%Jul 2024: Seats +5.2%; Passengers +4.2%Aug 2024: Seats +2.2%; Passengers +4.3%Sep 2024: Seats +2.5%; Passengers +1.3%Oct 2024: Seats +1.3%; Passengers -0.3%Nov 2024: Seats +1.2%; Passengers -1.4%Dec 2024: Seats +2.5%; Passengers +5.7%Jan 2025: Seats +1.8%; Passengers +0.5%Feb 2025: Seats +2.4%; Passengers -1.4%Mar 2025: Seats +3.4%; Passengers -1.4%Apr 2025: Seats +2.7%; Passengers -1.4%May 2025: Seats +1.6%; Passengers -2.2%Jun 2025: Seats +1.5%; Passengers -1.1%Jul 2025: Seats +1.9%; Passengers +0.1%Aug 2025: Seats +0.2%; Passengers -0.4%Sep 2025: Seats -0.9%; Passengers -0.9%Oct 2025: Seats +1.7%; Passengers +1.7%Nov 2025: Seats +0.1%; Passengers -3.3%Dec 2025: Seats +0.6%; Passengers -3.1%Jan 2026: Seats -1.0%; Passengers -2.1%Feb 2026: Seats +0.5%; Passengers +2.0%Mar 2026: Seats -0.1%; Passengers +1.4%Apr 2026: Seats +1.8%; Passengers +0.3%May 2026: Seats +0.1%; Passengers -0.6%Jun 2026: Seats -1.3%; Passengers -1.1%Jul 2026: Seats -0.7%; Passengers -1.3%; Passengers, estimate -1.3%Aug 2026: Seats +0.6%; Passengers, estimate -5.1%Oct 2026: Seats +3.4%; Passengers, estimate -2.5%Passenger Index
  • Seats
  • Passengers (BTS T-100)
  • Passengers, estimate
Change against the same month a year earlier. Months marked as estimates are not yet published by BTS. Seats for months marked partly rebuilt include days rebuilt from aircraft position reports. Months marked as estimates contain information from adsb.lol, made available under the ODbL.

Month by month

US domestic seats, passengers and load factor. Months marked as estimates are not yet published by BTS. Seats for months marked partly rebuilt include days rebuilt from aircraft position reports. Months marked as estimates contain information from adsb.lol, made available under the ODbL.
MonthSeatsPassengersLoad factorvs year earlier (pts)Seats YoYPassengers YoY
Oct 2026 (estimate, partly rebuilt)––75.9%-4.5+3.4%-2.5%
Aug 2026 (estimate)––76.8%-4.6+0.6%-5.1%
Jul 202695.1M78.3M82.4%-0.6-0.7%-1.3%
Jun 202692.0M75.9M82.6%+0.2-1.3%-1.1%
May 202692.7M74.1M80.0%-0.6+0.1%-0.6%
Apr 202691.1M70.1M77.0%-1.1+1.8%+0.3%
Mar 202692.1M73.6M79.9%+1.2-0.1%+1.4%
Feb 202677.4M59.6M77.0%+1.2+0.5%+2.0%
Jan 202679.9M59.3M74.2%-0.8-1.0%-2.1%
Dec 202588.9M70.2M79.0%-3.0+0.6%-3.1%
Nov 202586.1M65.7M76.3%-2.6+0.1%-3.3%
Oct 202592.7M74.5M80.4%-0.0+1.7%+1.7%
Sep 202585.7M67.6M78.9%-0.0-0.9%-0.9%
Aug 202592.1M74.9M81.4%-0.5+0.2%-0.4%
Jul 202595.7M79.4M82.9%-1.5+1.9%+0.1%
Jun 202593.2M76.8M82.4%-2.2+1.5%-1.1%
May 202592.6M74.6M80.6%-3.1+1.6%-2.2%
Apr 202589.5M69.9M78.1%-3.2+2.7%-1.4%
Mar 202592.2M72.6M78.7%-3.8+3.4%-1.4%
Feb 202577.0M58.4M75.8%-2.9+2.4%-1.4%
Jan 202580.8M60.6M75.0%-0.9+1.8%+0.5%
Dec 202488.4M72.4M81.9%+2.5+2.5%+5.7%
Nov 202486.1M67.9M78.9%-2.1+1.2%-1.4%
Oct 202491.1M73.3M80.4%-1.3+1.3%-0.3%
Sep 202486.5M68.2M78.9%-0.9+2.5%+1.3%
Aug 202491.8M75.2M81.9%+1.7+2.2%+4.3%
Jul 202493.9M79.3M84.5%-0.8+5.2%+4.2%
Jun 202491.8M77.6M84.6%-0.8+7.1%+6.1%
May 202491.1M76.3M83.7%+0.6+5.2%+5.9%
Apr 202487.2M70.9M81.3%-1.3+5.6%+4.0%
Mar 202489.1M73.6M82.6%+0.7+3.9%+4.7%
Feb 202477.9M61.4M78.7%+1.6+1.6%+3.7%
Jan 202479.4M60.3M76.0%+1.9+0.1%+2.6%
Dec 202386.2M68.5M79.4%-2.0+11.4%+8.7%
Nov 202385.1M68.9M81.0%-1.0+8.7%+7.3%
Oct 202390.0M73.5M81.7%-2.4+10.5%+7.4%
Sep 202384.4M67.4M79.8%-2.4+8.9%+5.8%
Aug 202389.9M72.1M80.2%-2.2+10.2%+7.2%
Jul 202389.3M76.1M85.2%+0.3+8.1%+8.5%
Jun 202385.7M73.2M85.4%-1.4+9.3%+7.5%
May 202386.6M72.0M83.1%-2.7+10.0%+6.6%
Apr 202382.5M68.2M82.6%-2.6+9.6%+6.3%
Mar 202385.8M70.3M81.9%-1.7+10.1%+7.9%
Feb 202374.1M57.1M77.1%+2.4+11.9%+15.6%
Jan 202379.3M58.8M74.1%+8.1+13.3%+27.2%

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By airline: the Airline Demand Index applies this national change in how full flights are to each airline's own seats.

How it is measured

Seats and passengers are BTS T-100: every US airline's monthly report of domestic flights, scheduled and non-scheduled passenger service, with the seats offered and the passengers carried. Load factor is passengers divided by seats. BTS publishes about three months after the month ends. For the months since, seats come from BTS's on-time flight records and Passenger Index flight activity data (air traffic flight messages), each day against the same weekday a year earlier, and passengers from TSA's national daily checkpoint count against the same month a year earlier. The estimated load factor is last year's load factor times (1 + passenger growth) / (1 + seat growth). TSA counts people starting a trip, including international departures, so its growth runs apart from domestic boardings by an amount that drifts over time; the estimate is corrected by half its average miss over the latest 12 months BTS has published.

Cite as: Passenger Index, "US Airline Seats, Passengers and Load Factor", https://passengerindex.com/web/airlines/load-factor/ (CC BY 4.0).

Frequently asked questions

What is airline load factor?

The share of seats filled: passengers divided by seats. US domestic load factor usually runs from the mid-70s in winter to the mid-80s in summer.

Where do the figures come from?

Seats and passengers are BTS T-100: every US airline's monthly report of domestic flights, scheduled and non-scheduled passenger service, with the seats offered and the passengers carried. Load factor is passengers divided by seats. BTS publishes about three months after the month ends. For the months since, seats come from BTS's on-time flight records and Passenger Index flight activity data (air traffic flight messages), each day against the same weekday a year earlier, and passengers from TSA's national daily checkpoint count against the same month a year earlier. The estimated load factor is last year's load factor times (1 + passenger growth) / (1 + seat growth). TSA counts people starting a trip, including international departures, so its growth runs apart from domestic boardings by an amount that drifts over time; the estimate is corrected by half its average miss over the latest 12 months BTS has published.

How accurate is the estimate?

Backtest, August 2023 to July 2026 (36 months): the estimated load factor missed BTS by 0.7 points a month on average (largest miss 2.0 points).

How often is it updated?

Daily as flight activity and TSA's national count come in; BTS months replace the estimates as BTS publishes them. BTS T-100 runs to July 2026 in this edition.