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Travel and Tourism

March 2023 International Air Passenger Travel

—Air Passenger Enplanements Up 42% Year Over Year in March 2023
—Air Passenger Travel Between the United States and Europe Up 59% in March 2023

Data recently released by the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) show that in March 2023:

U.S.-international air traffic passenger enplanements1 totaled:

  • 19.687 million in March 2023, up 41.7% compared to March 2022, with enplanements reaching 92.3% of pre-pandemic March 2019 volume.

Originating Non-Stop Air Travel in March 2023

  • Non-U.S. citizen air passenger arrivals to the United States from foreign countries totaled:
    • 4.285 million in March 2023, up 48.2% compared to March 2022.
    • This represents 82.4% of pre-pandemic March 2019 volume.

On a related note, overseas visitor arrivals2 (with stays of 1-night or more in the United States and visiting under certain visa types) totaled 2.158 million in March 2023, the seventeenth consecutive month overseas visitor arrivals exceeded 1.0 million. March overseas visitor arrivals reached 74.8% of pre-pandemic March 2019 volume, up from 68.8% in February 2022. (See March I-94 Preliminary Release)

  • U.S. citizen air passenger departures from the United States to foreign countries totaled:
    • 5.642 million in March 2023, up 38.8% compared to March 2022 and exceeding March 2019 volume by 4.9%.

World Region Highlights in February 2023 (APIS/I-92 arrivals + departures)

  • Total air passenger travel (arrivals and departures) between the United States and other countries were led by Mexico 3.550 million, Canada 2.632 million, the United Kingdom 1.466 million, the Dominican Republic 917,000 and Germany 735,000.
  • International regional air travel to/from the United States:
    • Europe totaled 4.797 million passengers, up 58.7% over March 2022, and down only (-8.8%) compared to March 2019.
    • South/Central America/Caribbean totaled 5.208 million, up 18.6% over March 2022, and down only (-2.6%) compared to March 2019.
    • Asia totaled 1.893 million passengers, up 261.6% over March 2022, but still down (-39.2%) compared to March 2019.
  • Top U.S. ports serving international locations were New York (JFK) 2.600 million, Miami (MIA) 2.009 million, Los Angeles (LAX) 1.699 million, Newark (EWR) 1.109 million and Chicago (ORD) 1.031 million.
  • Top foreign ports serving U.S. locations were London Heathrow (LHR) 1.311 million, Cancun (CUN) 1.245 million, Toronto (YYZ) 1.079 million, Mexico City (MEX) 628,000 and Paris (CGD) 588,000.

1 APIS/ “I-92” (arrivals + departures)

2 ADIS/I-94 (with stays of 1-night or more in the United States and visiting under certain visa types)

Interested in an interactive data visualization of these statistics? Please visit our APIS/I-92 International Air Passenger Monitor for a more comprehensive and customizable experience.

I-92/APIS International Air Passengers

The APIS/I-92 Program provides information on non-stop international air traffic between the United States and other countries. The data has been collected from the Department of Homeland Security - Customs and Border Protection’s Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) since July 2010. The APIS based “I-92” system provides air traffic data on the following parameters: number of passengers, by country, airport, scheduled or chartered, U.S. Flag, foreign flag, citizens and non-citizens. Visit the APIS/I-92 Data Program home page for more information on airline travel to and from the United States.

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