The USA's 20 busiest airports account for 78% of the country's flights, with services currently 5% lower than in July 2019. Five airports have experienced a significant reduction, losing over 100 daily departures each, with Chicago O'Hare down by 239. Detroit has seen nearly one in four outbound flights cut.
Despite the time elapsed since COVID-19 disrupted global travel, not all sectors have returned to pre-pandemic levels. This includes flight operations at the USA’s busiest airports. According to Cirium data, these top 20 airports collectively have 412,350 July departures, averaging 13,300 daily one-way flights. They represent nearly eight out of ten of the country's flights (78%).
However, current services are still down by approximately 5% compared to July 2019. The net loss is around 19,500 monthly and 630 daily departures. Conversely, when considering seats for sale and available seat miles (ASMs), there has been growth: seats per flight increased from 137 to 152 and ASMs rose by 4%.