In Brief: International air passenger travel to and from the United States totaled 26.4 million enplanements in July 2026, a 2.4% decline from July 2025, according to National Travel and Tourism Office data. Both foreign visitor air arrivals and U.S. citizen departures declined, while Canada was the only one of the five largest country markets to record year-over-year growth.
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Canada ranked second, with 3.1 million passenger movements, and was the only market among the five largest country markets to post growth. – Image Credit Unsplash
Overall international traffic
International air passenger traffic involving the United States declined in July 2026 compared with the same month a year earlier, according to recently released data from the National Travel and Tourism Office, or NTTO.
U.S.-international air passenger enplanements totaled 26.4 million during the month. That was down 2.4% from July 2025. The measure includes arriving and departing passengers reported through the Advance Passenger Information System, or APIS, and the I-92 reporting system.
The July figures show declines in both major directions of international travel: non-U.S. citizens arriving in the United States and U.S. citizens leaving the country for foreign destinations.
Foreign arrivals and U.S. departures
Non-U.S. citizen air passenger arrivals from foreign countries totaled 5.1 million in July, a 3% decline from July 2025.
The NTTO also reported that overseas visitor arrivals totaled 3.1 million in July, down 7% year over year. This separate measure is based on Advance Data Sharing and I-94 records and covers visitors who stayed at least one night in the United States and traveled under specified visa categories.
U.S. citizen air passenger departures to foreign countries totaled 7.9 million in July. That represented a 2.2% decline from the same month in 2025.
The figures cover nonstop international air travel and distinguish between air passenger movements and overseas visitor arrivals. The visitor-arrival data do not represent all foreign air passengers because the measures use different reporting systems and criteria.
Largest country markets
Mexico remained the largest international air travel market for the United States in July, with 3.7 million total arrivals and departures. However, traffic between the United States and Mexico fell 5.4% from July 2025.
Canada ranked second, with 3.1 million passenger movements, and was the only market among the five largest country markets to post growth. Travel between the United States and Canada increased 1.5% from a year earlier.
The United Kingdom was the third-largest market, with 2 million passengers, but traffic declined 6.5% year over year. The Dominican Republic recorded 1.2 million passengers, down 1.9%. Germany accounted for 1.1 million passengers, down 3.5%.
Together, the results indicate that the overall July decrease was reflected across several of the United States’ largest international travel markets, although the size of the change varied by country.
Regional travel patterns
Europe was the largest international region for U.S. air travel in July, with 8.5 million passengers traveling between the United States and European destinations. The total was down 2.6% compared with July 2025.
Travel between the United States and South America, Central America and the Caribbean totaled 6.4 million passengers. That represented a 2.5% decrease from the prior-year month.
Asia recorded 2.8 million passengers, down 0.3%. The relatively small decline made Asia the region with the least year-over-year change among those listed by the NTTO.
The Middle East recorded 1.2 million passengers and had the largest regional percentage decrease, falling 7% from July 2025.
Leading airports
New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport was the leading U.S. airport serving international locations, handling 3.3 million passengers in July. Miami International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport each handled 2.3 million international passengers.
Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport each recorded 1.6 million passengers serving international routes.
Among foreign airports serving U.S. locations, London Heathrow was the largest, with 1.7 million passengers. Toronto Pearson International Airport handled 1.1 million passengers, followed by Cancun International Airport with 1 million.
Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport recorded 920,000 passengers on U.S.-related routes, while Mexico City International Airport recorded 880,000.
