Commercial aviation helps drive more than 10M American jobs and 5 cents of every dollar of U.S. GDP
Commercial aviation drives more than $1 trillion per year in economic activity
In 2012, U.S. airlines moved more than 48,000 tons of cargo per day
In 2012, the value of a kilogram of U.S. merchandise exported by air averaged 121 times the value exported by sea
For every 100 airline jobs, some 360 are supported outside of the airline industry
Federal taxes constitute $61 – or 20% – of the price of a typical $300 domestic round-trip ticket
In 2011, U.S. airlines carried 16 percent more passengers and cargo using 10 percent less fuel than in 2000
Domestically, airlines drive 5% of economic activity but account for 2% of man-made GHG emissions
From 2000-2011, airlines reduced GHG emissions by 11% while transporting 16% more passengers and cargo
From 1975-2011, U.S. airlines and their partners reduced significant noise exposure by 99%
Commercial air travel is the safest form of intercity transportation in the United States
In the most recent decade, scheduled air service on U.S. airlines was seven times safer than in the 1970s
From 2000-2012, U.S. airlines improved the on-time arrival rate from 72.6% to 81.9%
From 2000-2012, U.S. airlines reduced the flight cancellation rate sharply from 3.30% to 1.29%
Airfares are a bargain: From 2000-2012, U.S. CPI rose 33% while average domestic fare rose just 14%
Adjusted for inflation, the average round-trip domestic airfare fell 15% from 2000
2007 domestic flight delays cost the United States approximately $31 billion
In 2012, the value of U.S. merchandise exported by air reached an all-time high of $427B
In 2012, U.S. exports of air-travel services reached an all-time high of $39.5B, driving a $5.1B trade surplus
In 2012, U.S. passenger and cargo airlines spent more than $50B on fuel, averaging 36% of operating expenses
In 2012, U.S. airlines posted the lowest annual rate of mishandled baggage ever recorded
FAA projects U.S. air travel demand to top 1 billion passengers in 2027
In 2012, US airlines flew 83.4 million passengers in scheduled international service - a record high
In 2012, the total value of merchandise exported from or imported to the United States by air exceeded $927 billion
In 2012, 7.15 teragrams of merchandise was exported from or imported to the United States by air

Glossary

Events section: man under wing refueling a plane

The ATA glossary includes a list of commonly used aviation terms/acronyms and definitions.

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general aviation (GA) - A term used to describe all nonmilitary and nonairline flying, encompassing everything from recreational aircraft to experimental aircraft to privately owned and operated business jets. General aviation flies according to FAA Part 91 or Part 135 rules.
geographic regions - For reporting related to the conduct of scheduled service, DOT established in 14 CFR 241 four separate air carrier entities: (1) Domestic: All operations within and between the 50 states of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Canadian transborder operations; (2) Atlantic: All operations via the Atlantic Ocean (excluding Bermuda); (3) Latin: All operations within, to or from Latin American areas, including the non-U.S. Caribbean (including Bermuda and the Guianas), Mexico and South/Central America; (4) Pacific: All operations via the Pacific Ocean, including the North/Central Pacific, South Pacific (including Australia) and the Trust Territories. [Note: International denotes all operations not considered Domestic. System denotes the summation of Domestic and International operations.]
glideslope - The ideal descent path to a runway. It can be electronically defined by radio signals transmitted from the ground. An aircraft carrying a special radio receiver can detect this electronic glidepath and follow it down to the runway.
global distribution system - See computer reservation system.
global positioning system (GPS) - A worldwide radio-navigation system formed from a matrix of satellites and their ground stations. GPS is funded by and controlled by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). While there are many thousands of civil users of GPS worldwide, the system was designed for and is operated by the U. S. military. GPS provides specially coded satellite signals that can be processed by a GPS receiver, enabling the receiver to compute position, velocity and time.
gross domestic product - The market value of goods and services produced by labor and property in the United States, valued at market prices. As long as the labor and property are located in the United States, the suppliers (workers and owners) may be either U.S. residents or residents of foreign countries. GDP replaced gross national product (GNP) as the primary measure of U.S. production in 1991.
gross output - A measure of total economic activity consisting of sales, receipts and other operating income, plus commodity taxes and changes in inventories.
ground control - “Ground” is an air traffic control function that handles aircraft once they have landed, or before they are cleared to takeoff (typically from the gate to the runway).
ground delay program - A delay program, implemented at the FAA Command Center, based on established airport acceptance rates. Designed to control air traffic volume to airports where the projected traffic demand is expected to exceed the airport’s acceptance rate for a lengthy period of time. Flights that are destined to the affected airport are issued Expected Departure Clearance Times (EDCT) at their point of departure; flights that have been issued EDCTs are not permitted to depart until their Expected Departure Clearance Time.
ground servicing - Activity that begins when the aircraft is stopped and available to be safely approached by ground personnel for the purpose of securing the aircraft and performing the duties applicable to the arrival of the aircraft, aircraft maintenance, etc. It ends with completion of the duties applicable to the departure of the aircraft or when the aircraft is no longer safe to approach for the purpose of ground servicing, e.g., prior to crew initiating the taxi-out phase.