by Donald Wood
Last updated: 1:35 PM ET, Thu January 16, 2020
The Airlines Reporting Corp. (ARC) announced Wednesday that travel advisors in the United States achieved record sales of airline tickets in 2019.
Research from ARC found the consolidated dollar value of tickets sold last year totaled $97.4 billion, which was a 2.8 percent increase compared to the previous year. The record-breaking totals were aided by a 10 percent surge in December ticket sales.
The study found the average round-trip ticket price in 2019 was $494, a $4 increase over 2018.
In addition, total passenger trips settled by ARC for U.S.-based travel agencies increased by 2.3 percent last year, with international flights growing by nearly three percent and domestic journeys jumping two percent.
Travel advisors also saw Electronic Miscellaneous Document (EMD) sales in December grow by 44 percent to help total 2019 sales increase by eight percent to $84.6 million, an increase of 8.5 percent over 2018.
The last year was incredibly busy for not just travel advisors, but also the commercial aviation industry as a whole. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) broke records over the 2019 holiday travel period, screening more than 43.8 million passengers and crew members, a four percent jump from 2018.
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