As predicted last month, the latest data from the US Department of Transportation show that, on a rolling basis (year-over-year), monthly air passenger numbers on all airlines in the US have officially surpassed record levels last seen before the Great Recession.
Around 841 million people flew on US and foreign carriers in the US (on domestic and international flights) between September 2014 and a year earlier. That beats the peak reached between March 2007 and March 2008, then the highest level recorded.
The data doesn’t include travel during this year’s robust holiday season.
International airlines and flyers have driven most of the growth. Driven in part by rising wealth in emerging markets, international travelers set their own record on a rolling basis from September 2014 through a year earlier—reaching around 184 million international passengers.