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Travel and Tourism

May 2023 International Air Passenger Travel

  • Air Passenger Enplanements Up 24% Year Over Year in May 2023
  • Air Passenger Travel Between the United States and Europe Up 24% in May 2023

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

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

  • 20.765 million in May 2023, up 23.9% compared to May 2022, with enplanements reaching 94.3% of pre-pandemic May 2019 volume.

Originating Non-Stop Air Travel in May 2023

  • Non-U.S. citizen air passenger arrivals to the United States from foreign countries totaled:
    • 4.407 million in May 2023, up 22.9% compared to May 2022.
    • This represents 80.4% of pre-pandemic May 2019 volume.

On a related note, overseas visitor arrivals2 totaled 2.588 million in May 2023, the nineteenth consecutive month overseas visitor arrivals exceeded 1.0 million. May overseas visitor arrivals reached 73.6% of pre-pandemic May 2019 volume, up from 72.6% in April 2023. (See May I-94 Advance Release)

  • U.S. citizen air passenger departures from the United States to foreign countries totaled:
    • 6.008 million in May 2023, up 23.5% compared to May 2022 and exceeding May 2019 volume by 8.1%.

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

  • Total air passenger travel (arrivals and departures) between the United States and other countries were led by Mexico 3.071 million, Canada 2.444 million, the United Kingdom 1.916 million, Germany 937,000, and the Dominican Republic 867,000.
  • International regional air travel to/from the United States:
    • Europe totaled 6.575 million passengers, up 24.3% over May 2022, and down only (-7.4%) compared to May 2019.
    • South/Central America/Caribbean totaled 4.837 million, up 11.2% over May 2022, and up 1.0% compared to May 2019.
    • Asia totaled 2.094 million passengers, up 138.9% over May 2022, but still down (-36.3%) compared to May 2019.
  • Top U.S. ports serving international locations were New York (JFK) 2.917 million, Los Angeles (LAX) 1.869 million, Miami (MIA) 1.821 million, Newark (EWR) 1.335 million and San Francisco (SFO) 1.231 million.
  • Top foreign ports serving U.S. locations were London Heathrow (LHR) 1.642 million, Toronto (YYZ) 1.033 million, Cancun (CUN) 1.032 million, Paris (CDG) 699,000, and Frankfurt (FRA) 637,000.

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.

Explore the I-92 U.S. International Air Passenger Monitor

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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