USA TODAY
The global economic downturn took 68.6 million scheduled airline passengers out the USA's skies over the last two years.
Last year, 769.6 million travelers boarded planes in the U.S. or planes bound for the U.S., according to new data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. That's down 5.3% from 812.3 million passengers in 2008 and down 8.2% from the record 838.2 million air travelers in the U.S. market in 2007.

The total number of domestic and foreign airline passengers in the market last year fell below the 800 million mark for the first time since 2004, when 763.7 million travelers flew on planes in, out of and around the country.

The sharp, two-year decline in demand for seats plus an average fare difference of at least $30 per ticket meant travelers in the U.S. market spent an estimated $2 billion less on air fares in 2009 than they did in 2007.

Higher spending on ancillary services, such as food and checking bags, partially offset that drop in revenue for the airlines, however.

In 2007, the average airfare in the U.S. market was almost $346, according to bureau data. The agency hasn't said what the average ticket price was in 2009. But based on the average prices reported for domestic tickets through nine months last year, the 2009 average fare for both domestic and international trips is likely less than $315.

"Its not surprising we saw such a significant reduction (in travel)," says analyst and consultant Julius Maldutis at Airline Dynamics.

Eleven U.S. airlines that Maldutis follows posted a combined net loss of almost $4.6 billion last year as fewer people traveled because of the economy.

That poor 2009 performance was actually an improvement over an even worse 2008, when data from the Air Transport Association, the trade group for the nation's largest airlines, shows that all U.S. passenger and cargo airlines reported a net loss of $23.6 billion in 2008. In 2007 that group of airlines reported combined net profits of $7.7 billion.

The big question now is whether airlines will see travelers return to the skies.

"I think we will," Maldutis says. "But it's going to be much slower than many people suspect."

Their return, he says, "has always depended on the course of the economy."

While the U.S. economy seems to be recovering slowly, some analysts fret that it could slow down late this year or early next year. If that happens, Maldutis says, airline passenger traffic will stall out.

To reduce their exposure to the recession, airlines in 2009 shrunk fleets and cut service. There were just over 10 million flights last year compared to 10.73 million in 2008.