WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th February, 2021) US airline passenger traffic in December fell 62 percent below pre-coronavirus pandemic levels in a year earlier, the Transportation Department reported on Tuesday.
"The large airlines carried 30 million passengers in December 2020 (preliminary), compared to 79 million passengers in December 2019 and up from 3 million in April 2020, which was the lowest monthly total in BTS [Bureau of Transportation Statics] records dating back to 1974.� The previous low was 14.6 million passengers in February 1975," the Transportation Department said in a press release.
The data is based on reports to BTS filed monthly by 22 major US airlines, which carry 90 percent of passengers, the release said.
Domestic passenger traffic in December totaled 27.2 million, down 61 percent from the previous year while 3.2 million passengers on international flights represented a 66 percent drop, the release added.
US airlines received $58 billion in the March 2020 Cares Act with another $15 billion included in the proposed $1.9 billion COVID-19 relief package now working its way through Congress.
