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America’s Love Affair With Flying Is Growing Faster Than the Economy

U.S. air travel demand is booming. Will the good times last?

Operations At The Delta Air Lines Inc. Terminal Ahead Of Earnings Figures
Photographer: Angus Mordant/Bloomberg

Americans love to fly and it shows.

U.S. airlines carried a record 889 million passengers in 2018, a 20 percent increase from five years earlier, according to Bureau of Transportation Statistics records that date to 2002. That wanderlust appeared in U.S. airlines’ robust second-quarter revenues and executives across the industry said they’re seeing continued strong consumer demand throughout the peak summer travel period.