Airlines Reporting Corp. (ARC), the financial settlement link between airlines and travel sellers, reported total airline sales in June were $7,180,330,320, down 1.77 from the same month last year. Total transactions were 11,847,721, down 5.36 from the same month last year. Domestic fares were $3,064,337,662, down 3.85 percent from June 2011, while international fares were $2,806,499,873 down 5.04 percent. Total retail locations were down to 13,818 compared to 13,857 in May.

At the same time, ARC reported that consolidated dollar value of airline tickets sold by U.S.-based travel agencies increased 5.48 percent year-over-year in the first half of 2012 compared to the same period in 2011, and 13 percent over the same period in 2010. From January through June 2012, ticket sales totaled $46.4 billion, compared to $44 billion in 2011, and $41 billion in 2010.

Year-to-date passenger segments for the first half of 2012 increased slightly by 0.46 percent -- at 185.2 million segments, compared to 184.4 million in 2011 -- while reflecting a 1.91 percent decrease from the same period in 2010. Ticket transactions between January and June 2012 were flat over the same period in 2011, while down by 1.6 percent compared to the same period in 2010.