North American aviation industry by numbers - September 2017 update

Routesonline analyses the North American aviation industry, taking a monthly look at the top routes served and revealing the airlines that are dominating the market. We also rank the top ten airports by available seat capacity.

September 2017 update - All data provided by OAG

Top North American airline routes

San Francisco (SFO) - Los Angeles International (LAX) took the number one spot for the most available capacity during September 2017 although the total number of available seats declined by 6.2 percent on a year-by-year basis. Honolulu (HNL) - Kahului (OGG) ranked tenth in the list and experienced the biggest year-on-year percentage growth, up 15.3 percent on September 2016.

https://infogram.com/north-america-routes-sept-2017-1gk92exr9kg7m16

Top North American airlines

American Airlines added the most capacity in the top ten during September 2017 with an additional 439,044 seats compared with the same month a year earlier. Southwest Airlines was marginally behind after it added 436,103 seats, with its total capacity during September 2017 standing at 16,080,303.

https://infogram.com/north-america-airlines-sept-2017-1g9vp1wkr3k524y

Top North American airports

San Francisco (SFO) added the most capacity during September 2017 compared with a year earlier, with the number of departure available seats rising by 6.3 percent to 2,907,522. Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson remained as the number one although Los Angeles International closed the gap on an annual basis.

https://infogram.com/north-america-airports-sept-2017-1g57pr0qxxevp01


The full North American aviation industry data

Top North American routes by total available two-way capacity (September 2017):

Rank Airport September 2017 capacity (total available two-way seats) September 2016 capacity (total available two-way seats) Year-on-year change (%)
1 San Francisco (SFO) - Los Angeles International (LAX) 417899 445757 -6.2%
2 Vancouver International (YVR) - Toronto Lester B Pearson (YYZ) 346137 325802 6.2%
3 New York LaGuardia (LGA) - Chicago O'Hare International (ORD) 339892 319818 6.3%
4 Los Angeles International (LAX) - New York J F Kennedy (JFK) 336681 326230 3.2%
5 New York J F Kennedy (JFK) - London Heathrow (LHR) 310066 329028 -5.7%
6 Los Angeles International (LAX) - Las Vegas McCarran International (LAS) 276203 280473 -1.5%
7 Toronto Lester B Pearson (YYZ) - Montreal (YUL) 271418 278243 -2.5%
8 Los Angeles International (LAX) - Chicago O'Hare International (ORD) 270881 275489 -1.7%
9 Los Angeles International (LAX) - Seattle-Tacoma International (SEA) 264018 270406 -2.4%
10 Honolulu (HNL) - Kahului (OGG) 262256 227536 15.3%

Top North American airlines by total available capacity (September 2017):

Airline

Total available seats

(September 2017)

Total available seats

(September 2016)

Year-on-year change

(%)

American Airlines (AA) 20258647 19819603 2.2%
Delta Air Lines (DL) 18441491 18206698 1.3%
Southwest Airlines (WN) 16080303 15644200 2.8%
United Airlines (UA) 14928847 14500761 3.0%
Air Canada (AC) 5333677 5041472 5.8%
JetBlue Airways (B6) 3904511 3541143 10.3%
Alaska Airlines (AS) 3674893 3431224 7.1%
Spirit Airlines (NK) 2489599 2099969 18.6%
Westjet (WS) 2458208 2308571 6.5%
Frontier Airlines (F9) 1644590 1564790 5.1%


Top North American airports by total available departure seats (September 2017):

Airport Total available departure seats (September 2017) Total available departure seats (September 2016) Year-on-year change (%)
Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson 4917280 4961955 -0.9%
Los Angeles International 4120412 4018852 2.5%
Chicago O'Hare International 4099486 3971366 3.2%
Dallas Dallas/Fort Worth 3246168 3186903 1.9%
New York J F Kennedy 3092063 3005035 2.9%
Denver 2940256 2926977 0.5%
San Francisco 2907522 2733953 6.3%
Toronto Lester B Pearson 2467445 2354378 4.8%
Las Vegas McCarran 2356667 2319784 1.6%
Seattle-Tacoma 2315382 2247579 3.0

David Casey

David Casey is Editor in Chief of Routes, the global route development community's trusted source for news and information.