Summer clearly ended with a bang. The Airlines Reporting Corp. (ARC) said
that airline ticket agency sales reached $8.1 billion in the month of August
alone.
That’s the highest August total since ARC
began keeping records in 2017. It’s also a one percent increase over August of
2023. August passenger trips reached 24.3 million, reflecting a four percent
increase in United States domestic trips and a three percent increase in international
trips compared to August 2023.
The Transportation Safety Administration
(TSA) predicted it would be a boffo summer, and they weren’t kidding. The numbers
from ARC bear that out.
“As the summer travel season ended, we saw
continued strength in both air ticket sales and the number of domestic and
international passenger trips. Consumers continue to prioritize travel,” said
Steve Solomon, chief commercial officer at ARC. “Passengers are taking
advantage of lower ticket prices to plan their fall and winter vacations.”
In August of this year, 18.8 percent of
ARC’s monthly transaction volume came from New Distribution Capability (NDC)
transactions — a 50.4 percent increase year over year. More than 890 travel
agencies reported NDC transactions throughout the month.
Results are based on monthly sales data
ending August 31, 2024, from 10,364 U.S. retail and corporate travel
agency locations, satellite ticket printing offices and online travel
agencies. Results do not include sales of tickets purchased directly from
airlines.
The average ticket price is for a round-trip ticket settled through
ARC for an itinerary that includes only U.S. domestic travel. Passenger trips include the total number of passengers traveling from one airport to another using direct or connecting flights. Newly issued trips are added, and refunded trips are deducted to provide a net view of traveling passengers.
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