Originally Posted by CPRich
OK, some SWAG to start a conversation..
A quick look at key US cities in the OneWorld timetable shows about 150 daily TA flights. So I extrapolate to 400'ish per day total. Seatguru says 12-18F seats on the big planes, so 6000 capacity per day, 2.1 million per year.
In the history of flying, maybe 40 million seats available. Factor in empty seats, repeat flyers, etc, and pulling a number from my, um, thin air, I'd guess 8 million.
About as far from "hard numbers" as you can get, but at least a few facts to start a conversation.
The previous posts only cover flights from/to the US. Don't underestimate the number of F seats in the air flying
between other continents. I don't have any numbers, but I feel the worldwide number (incl. US) will be at least 2 or 3 times the US number.