The FAA reported Wednesday that it had sent 43 cases of passenger incidents to the FBI over the past year. This is out of 1,240 cases airlines reported to the FAA, which may seem significant but is relatively minor considering approximately 820 million domestic passengers were carried in the U.S. last year. Notably, the number of incidents has decreased by 80% compared to 2021 when there were fewer passengers.
Three primary factors account for this significant reduction in inflight incidents:
First, there has been a shift in the type of passengers flying. In fall 2020, then-American Airlines CEO Doug Parker noted that pandemic-era passengers were "somewhat different from our normal clientele." He clarified that these were mostly leisure travelers rather than business travelers and many were first-time flyers attracted by low fares.