The US Bureau of Transportation Statistics released its annual report showing a record 823 million passengers were carried by US airlines in 2016.
That represents a 3% increase over 2015’s previous best of 798 million.
International traffic accounted for 104 million passengers.
Despite the increase, loadings were slightly down to an average 83.4%, with Frontier Airlines out in front at 87.2%, followed by JetBlue and Delta Air Lines at 85.1% full.
The number of available seat miles also reached a new record, at 1.1 trillion.
Overall the industry is in its best shape for years.
Air Travel Consumer Report data released last month showed airlines cancelled fewer flight and are mishandling fewer bags than ever before.
"We not only set a new all-time high beating last year, but eclipsed it by a healthy margin. We’ve had two consecutive years of fairly significant airfare declines, and a couple of consecutive years of record capital expenditures putting money back into the product," said John Heimlich, Airlines for America chief economist.
