ARC Reports January Air Sales Rose Nearly 3 Percent

Yes, travel agents still do book airlines. Indeed, they are increasing their sales of airline tickets heading into 2014, according to the Airlines Reporting Corp.

ARC said airline sales by U.S.-based travel agencies rose 2.83 percent to $7.84 billion in January compared to the same period last year.

ARC, which serves as the financial settlement link between airlines and travel agencies, said January ticket transactions rose 0.14 percent over the same period last year to 13.3 million.

In other results, domestic fares in January rose 2.2 percent to $3.31 billion compared to the same period in 2013. International fares increased 1.74 percent to $2.92 billion compared to last January.

During the same month, however airline fees rose a whopping 10.32 percent to $637.8 million as part of the overall sales figures, while taxes and fees rose 2.7 percent to $850 million compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, total ARC retail travel agency locations now stand at 13,083, down significantly from their heights back in the mid-1990s when they totaled over 35,000. But many agencies have consolidated under one ARC number in order to leverage their sales with airlines.

So it’s likely that ARC retail agency locations will continue to decrease this year, but just as likely that travel agents overall will continue to see increases in airline sales.