Air transportation in the United States

The United States has an extensive air transportation network. In 2013 there were 86 airports in the U.S. that annually handled over 1,000,000 passengers and twelve of the world's thirty busiest airports by passenger volume in 2014 were in the U.S. (down from 17 in 2004), including the world's busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. In 2012 88% of all traffic was through the 62 busiest airports in the country. In terms of cargo, in 2015, eight of the world's thirty busiest airports were in the U.S., including the world's second busiest, Memphis International Airport. Private aircraft are also used for medical emergencies, government agencies, large businesses, and individuals, see general aviation.

Due to the geography of the United States and the generally large distances between major cities, air transportation is the preferred method of travel for trips over 300 miles (480 km), such as for business travelers and long distance vacation travelers. For cities closer together in the Northeastern part of the country (e.g. Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington D.C.) the Northeast Corridor rail line carries the majority of intercity traffic.

Since the start of the Great Recession air traffic in the U.S. has declined and the U.S. government reported 1.2 million fewer scheduled domestic flights in 2013 than in 2007 (with decreases averaging between 9 and 24% at large and medium-sized airports, respectively). At the same time the airline industry has also experienced rapid consolidation with all of nation's largest carriers experiencing mergers. The average domestic airline fare has steadily increased since 2009 and in 2014 it was higher than at any point since 2003.

When the U.S. entered the war in April 1917, it had already been lagging behind its European counterparts in aircraft production. This was largely due to the fact that the U.S. entered the war much later, when most of the European countries were already pressured to advance their aircraft technologies to outcompete one another. The Europeans had already developed standardized mass production of aircraft, while the U.S. was forced to expand to meet their wartime necessities. Even so, most of the aircraft used by the U.S. in wartime were from Britain or France. In August 1917, Congress passed the Aero Bill which dedicated $640 million towards aircraft production; however, the U.S. economy overall was unable to successfully transition into a mass-producing aircraft industry in such a short amount of time.

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