"2023 proved to be a great year for aviation recovery across the world. Flight levels at the end of the year trended just 5% shy of 2019, with flights in Europe trailing just 3%. Business aviation in the United States ends the year strong, with flights up 20% over 2019."
- Matt Davis, President, FlightAware
Quick Stats: Commercial Airline Traffic - United States
Weekly Average | December 25 - December 31
Flights per Day:
2023: 26,040
2022: 21,446
2021: 22,386
2020: 16,921
2019: 27,723
Year-over-year change:
2023 vs. 2022: +21%
2023 vs. 2021: +16%
2023 vs. 2020: +54%
2023 vs. 2019: -6%
Quick Stats: Commercial Airline Traffic - Worldwide
Weekly Average | December 25 - December 31
Flights per Day:
2023: 90,408
2022: 75,895
2021: 71,923
2020: 53,886
2019: 95,240
Year-over-year change:
2023 vs. 2022: +19%
2023 vs. 2021: +26%
2023 vs. 2020: +68%
2023 vs. 2019: -5%
Quick Stats: Commercial Airline Traffic - Europe
Weekly Average | December 25 - December 31
Flights per Day:
2023: 19,105
2022: 17,515
2021: 15,374
2020: 6,543
2019: 19,790
Year-over-year change:
2023 vs. 2022: +9%
2023 vs. 2021: +24%
2023 vs. 2020: +192%
2023 vs. 2019: -3%
Quick Stats: Commercial Airline Traffic - China
Weekly Average | December 25 - December 31
Flights per Day:
2023: 13,670
2022: 7,013
2021: 9,317
2020: 11,780
2019: 14,198
Year-over-year change:
2023 vs. 2022: +95%
2023 vs. 2021: +47%
2023 vs. 2020: +16%
2023 vs. 2019: -4%
Commercial Airline: Any scheduled passenger airline flights. The FAA refers to these as Part 121 and Part 129 traffic. The airline numbers shown in this report do not include canceled flights.
Quick Stats: Business Aviation Traffic - United States
Weekly Average | December 25 - December 31
Flights per Day:
2023: 9,969
2022: 10,981
2021: 10,949
2020: 8,903
2019: 8,287
Year-over-year change:
2023 vs. 2022: -9%
2023 vs. 2021: -9%
2023 vs. 2020: +12%
2023 vs. 2019: +20%
Business Aviation: Any turbine general aviation flights that are not commercial or cargo airlines. The FAA refers to these as Part 91 or 135 traffic.
FlightAware (a Collins Aerospace business) is the leading provider of real-time and historical flight information and insights to the global aviation community. FlightAware serves all segments of the aviation marketplace through best-of-breed applications and data services that provide comprehensive information about the current and predicted movement of aircraft. Through the collection, interpretation, and enrichment of hundreds of sources of data, including data from FlightAware’s own proprietary terrestrial ADS-B network spanning seven continents and in 200 countries and territories, the company is able to transform millions of raw flight data elements and deliver them as coherent, easy-to-consume flight stories. As a single source of accurate and actionable data for aviation players large and small, FlightAware is central to aviation.