Domestic Carriers Cut Airfare Prices in Bid to Inspire More US-Based Vacations

If there’s been one theme among American travelers this summer it has been this: Goodbye America, hello Europe.

Americans have been heading to Europe and beyond in droves this summer and airfare prices are reflecting that reality. 

According to data from Hopper that was shared with TravelPulse last week, international airfare is currently about $962 roundtrip, which is up 10 percent from last year and 26 percent from the pre-pandemic prices of 2019.

Domestic airfare meanwhile is becoming quite the bargain. The average ticket within the United States is about $249 roundtrip, which is a drop of 11 percent from last year and a 12 percent decrease from 2019.

In a segment aired on the CNBC show Last Call today, Becky Blaine from The Points Guy said the decline in domestic prices is part of a bid to lure U.S. travelers back to vacationing domestically.

“Domestic carriers are starting to slash airfare prices in an attempt to keep people here in the United States,” Blaine said.

At the same time, some of the airlines are scaling back their full-year profit forecasts. This includes carriers such as JetBlue and Alaska Airlines. JetBlue cut its profit forecast between 5 cents and 40 cents per share as domestic travel cools.

When announcing the reduced profit forecast for 2023, JetBlue cited “a hit from the termination of its alliance with American Airlines and a shift in travel demand away from domestic trips to long-haul international destinations,” according to Reuters.

Airlines are also quickly working to bring back many flights that had been cancelled during the height of the pandemic.

“We still aren’t back to what the full capacity in routes would be in the United States,” Blaine said on Last Call. “And then they started to see the rush of everyone finally wanting to leave the U.S. and go to Europe and other places abroad now that everything is opened back up again and they are quickly trying to pivot and move planes.”

---

For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter here.

Topics From This Article to Explore