FAA: Air travel numbers to double in next two decades

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has projected that airline passenger travel will nearly double in the next 20 years.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has projected that airline passenger travel will nearly double in the next 20 years.

The report underscores the need to continue moving forward with implementation of FAAโ€™s next generation air transportation system (NextGen) to accommodate the projected growth.

โ€œMore and more Americans are relying on air travel, and the Obama Administration is committed to making sure the US can meet our growing aviation demands,โ€ said US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood.

โ€œOur investment in NextGen is the key to getting passengers and cargo to their destinations more safely, faster, and with less impact on the environment.โ€

The aviation standard for measuring commercial air travel volume is revenue passenger miles (RPM) which represents one paying passenger traveling one mile.

The FAA forecasts that RPMs will nearly double over the next two decades, from 815 billion in 2011 to 1.57 trillion in 2032, with an average increase of 3.2 percent per year.

The number of commercial operations at FAA and contract towers is expected to increase by more than 45 percent from current levels.

โ€œThis year, more people will be flying more miles, and we expect that to continue in future years,โ€ said FAA Acting Administrator Michael Huerta.

โ€œThe American people deserve an aviation system that can keep pace with our increasing reliance on air travel and NextGen will help us get there.โ€

Through NextGen, the FAA is transforming the US air transportation system with the use of satellite-based technology that will help passengers reach their destinations more quickly, increase air traffic capacity, and enhance safety. New, more precise routes will also reduce fuel burn, carbon emissions, and noise.

According to the forecast, the total number of people flying commercially on US airlines will increase by 0.2 percent to 732 million in 2012, then to 746 million in 2013, and then increase more rapidly to 1.2 billion in 2032. The aviation system is expected to reach one billion passengers per year in 2024.

Cargo traffic on US airlines, as measured by revenue ton miles (RTMs โ€“ one ton of cargo flying one mile โ€“ is projected to more than double over the course of the forecast, growing at an average rate of 4.9 percent per year.

The forecast also notes that in 2011, the average percent of occupied seat miles per plane on commercial flights reached a record level of 82 percent. These load factors are expected to reach an average of 83.4 percent in 2032.

In 2011, traffic growth remained modest with passengers increasing by 2.5 percent from 2010 and RPMs up 3.5 percent from 2010.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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