A new report from travel intelligence company Airlines Reporting Corp. (ARC) revealed that total air ticket sales by U.S. travel agencies hit $7.2 billion in October, a two-percent dip when compared with sales in October 2022. Despite this nominal reduction, the total number of passenger trips taken last month rose four percent to to 21.7 million, supported by a five percent uptick in U.S. domestic air travel.
“October’s air travel data looked similar to 2022 with a slight decrease in sales and passenger trips from the prior month,” remarked Steve Solomon, chief commercial officer at ARC. “Despite month-over-month declines, the growth in passenger trips compared to last October reflects sustained demand for domestic and international travel.”
Furthermore, ancillary sales for October 2023 witnessed a substantial 26-percent increase year-over-year, surging from $16.7 million to $21.1 million. The actual number of ancillary transactions also reflected an impressive increase of 28 percent, totaling 364,678 during the same timeframe. The term “ancillary sales” refers to add-on products and services, such as seat upgrades, checked bags, unaccompanied minor fees, pet-in-cabin fees, etc.
Agencies’ air ticketing data for October 2023 revealed:
| ARC Ticketing Metric | Total | Month-Over-Month Variance | Year-Over-Year Variance |
| Total sales | $7.2 billion | -5% | -2% |
| Total passenger trips | $21.7 million | -2% | +4% |
| U.S. domestic trips | $14.2 million | -1% | +5% |
| International trips | $7.5 million | -3% | +2% |
| Average ticket price | $557 | +4% | -4% |
The report emphasized that the provided data does not include air travel tickets that consumers bought directly from the airlines. The report is based upon data gleaned from 10,480 U.S. retail and corporate travel agency locations, satellite ticket printing offices and online travel agencies. More detailed data breakdowns an insights can be viewed within ARC’s statistic page.
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