Airlines for America (A4A) that is the industry trade organization for the most reputed U.S. airlines has announced today that as much as 45.2 million travellers would be flying globally during the 21-day period that commences from 16th December till 5thJanuary, marking an increase of about 3.55 over last year.
The different airlines companies would be adding more flights and making way for larger aircrafts.
In addition, the airlines are planning to offer around 99,000 additional seats every day across their network in order to accommodate the 73,000 daily passengers who are expected to travel during the winter holiday season marking a rise of about 3.9% over the previous year. Moreover, the U.S. airlines would also be adding additional staff members to accommodate the increasing number of holiday travellers.
John Heimlich, the chief economist and vice president, Airlines for America said that the airlines companies of the U.S. airlines are well equipped to deal with the large increase in the numbers of passengers for this holiday season.
He also said that the efforts of the airlines were well coordinated that ensured that the holiday rush would be as smooth as possible for fliers. This resulted in briefer security wait times and higher on-time performance rates.
During the Thanksgiving period air travel, the airlines witnessed a flight completion factor of about 99.4% and on-time arrival rate of about 84.5%.
Heimlich also went on to say that reduced airfares and an improving economy were some of the driving factors of the airline industry of the U.S.
A4A predicted that 22nd December and 23rd December would be the busiest travel days of the 21-day period of the winter holiday season. And, the lightest travel day would be the Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
The passenger volumes would be varying widely, ranging from about 1.8 million on the lightest day to 2.4 million on the busiest travel days.
It is believed that on an average, the U.S. airlines would be carrying nearly 2.2 million passengers per day throughout the year.
During this 21-day travel period, the busiest airports are expected to be those of Phoenix, San Francisco, New York, Houston, Charlotte, Denver, Dallas, Los Angeles, Chicago O’ Hare and Atlanta.
