International air passenger traffic to and from the United States declined in April 2026, with overseas visitation posting a particularly steep drop, according to new data from the National Travel and Tourism Office.
The latest figures show total U.S.-international air passenger enplanements reached 21.3 million in April, down 3.5% year over year, although traffic still slightly exceeded pre-pandemic April 2019 levels at 101.3%. Industry analysts noted however that Easter timing may have affected comparisons, with the holiday falling on April 20 in 2025 and April 5 in 2026.
Non-U.S. citizen air arrivals to the United States totaled 4.5 million passengers in April, representing a 9.8% decline from the same month last year. International inbound traffic recovered to just 79.5% of April 2019 volumes.
Overseas visitor arrivals fell even further. The U.S. welcomed 2.6 million overseas visitors in April 2026, down 14.1% year over year. That represented only 73.5% of pre-pandemic April 2019 levels, a significant decline from the 85.8% recovery level recorded in March 2026. Year-to-date through April, overseas visitation to the United States was down 4.3% compared to the same period in 2025.
US outbound remains resilient
Meanwhile, outbound international travel by Americans remained comparatively resilient. U.S. citizen departures to foreign destinations reached 5.8 million in April, down a modest 2% year over year and still 22.2% above April 2019 levels.
Mexico remained the largest international market for U.S. air travel, despite a 9.2% decline year over year, with 3.2 million passengers traveling between the two countries. Canada followed with 2.4 million passengers, down 3.6%. The United Kingdom ranked third with 1.7 million passengers, while the Dominican Republic and Japan both posted growth. Traffic to and from the Dominican Republic rose 4.9% to 955,000 passengers, while Japan increased 2.8% to 900,000 passengers.
By region, Europe remained the largest international market for U.S. travel, totaling 6.3 million passengers, down 1.5% from April 2025 but still slightly above 2019 levels.
South and Central America, along with the Caribbean, recorded the strongest recovery, with passenger volumes climbing 2.1% year over year and standing 14.6% above pre-pandemic levels.
Asia continued to recover steadily, with traffic up 5.6% versus last year, although volumes remained nearly 10% below April 2019 figures. The Middle East saw the sharpest decline of any region, with passenger traffic plunging 44.5% year over year to 651,000 travelers.
Among U.S. airports, John F. Kennedy International Airport remained the busiest gateway for international traffic with 2.7 million passengers, followed by Miami International Airport with 2 million and Los Angeles International Airport with 1.9 million.
Internationally, Heathrow Airport was the leading overseas gateway serving the United States with 1.5 million passengers, ahead of Toronto Pearson, Cancun, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Mexico City airports.
