FAA Reports 2024 as One of Its Busiest Years for Air Travel

January 4, 2025 TruthUSA

Thursdays continue to be the most hectic days for air travel throughout the year.

On January 3, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that 2024 was the second-busiest year for flights in America’s history. The previous record was established prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement also published on Medium, the FAA revealed its preliminary data indicating that the United States recorded approximately 16.86 million flights in 2024, an increase of about 500,000 from the previous year’s total of 16.36 million.

An FAA representative shared with The Epoch Times that 2024 experienced the second-highest number of flights logged in a 12-month span since 2019, which saw about 17.01 million domestic flights recorded by Air Traffic Control.

Thursdays remained the most sought-after air travel day of the week last year, with more than 2.58 million flights recorded on Thursdays in 2024. Additionally, Thursdays ranked among the top 10 busiest days of the year, surpassing 52,000 flights on each of those days. Notably, July 25 was the highest-volume day of 2024, with 54,338 flights.

Fridays were busy as well, accounting for a total of 2.54 million flights combined across all Fridays in the previous year.

For the fifth consecutive year, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport held the title of the busiest airport in the nation, managing 802,423 operations—an uptick of approximately 21,000 from the previous year—in 2024 alone. Chicago O’Hare International came in second with 776,854 operations, while Dallas Fort Worth International took third place with 750,167 operations.

Despite the increase in flights compared to 2023, the FAA reported that the cancellation rate remained at 1.2 percent, the lowest level since 2016.

In both 2023 and 2024, the primary reason for flight delays was attributed to weather conditions, which accounted for 61.4 percent of the total delay minutes. Congestion and runway construction were the subsequent leading factors that caused delays over the last two years.

FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker, who announced his retirement effective January 20 to allow President-elect Donald Trump to select his successor, reflected on the Alaska Airlines incident from January 2024 that intensified scrutiny on Boeing’s safety protocols and prompted further regulatory actions from the FAA.

“One year ago, just over two months into my role as FAA Administrator, a mid-cabin door plug was dislodged from an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX shortly after departure from Portland, Oregon,” Whitaker stated in a blog entry posted to Medium on January 3.

“I consulted with our safety specialists and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to gather the complete facts before deciding to issue an emergency airworthiness directive grounding all MAX aircraft equipped with this type of plug door,” he explained. “This decision led to a series of unprecedented measures that significantly reformed our oversight of Boeing.”

He indicated that the aerospace manufacturer is in the process of implementing its comprehensive safety plan, aimed at enhancing quality and engaging its employees.

“We’re monitoring the results closely and observing operations at critical Boeing sites,” Whitaker said.

“FAA safety experts are consistently evaluating the effectiveness of these changes; senior FAA officials meet with Boeing on a weekly basis to discuss performance metrics, advancements, and challenges; we have conducted an extraordinary number of unannounced audits; and we hold monthly status reviews with Boeing executives to track progress. Our intensified oversight is permanent.”

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