On the heels of one of the busiest forecasted Thanksgivings for air travel, Airlines for America (A4A) announced its statistical expectation for the 21-Day Winter Holiday Season. A4A expects that 45.2 million passengers will fly globally on U.S. airlines during the 21-day period from Friday, Dec. 16 through Thursday, Jan. 5, an increase of 3.5 percent over last year.
By adding flights and using larger planes, airlines will offer 99,000 additional seats per day across their networks to accommodate the 73,000 more daily passengers expected to travel over the holidays, an increase of 3.9 percent over last year. U.S. airlines will also add extra staff to accommodate the millions of holiday travelers.
For the 12-day Thanksgiving travel period, airlines posted a 99.4 percent flight completion factor and an on-time arrival rate of 84.5 percent.
“An improving economy and reduced airfares remain the driving force behind the growth seen in air travel,” said A4A Vice President and Chief Economist John Heimlich.
A4A expects the busiest travel days of the 21-day period to be Thursday, Dec. 22 and Friday, Dec. 23, while the lightest travel days are expected to be Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Passenger volumes are expected to vary widely, ranging from as low as 1.8 million on the lightest days to 2.4 million on the busiest. On average, U.S. airlines carry approximately 2.2 million passengers per day throughout the year.
The busiest airports by seats during the travel period are expected to be Atlanta (ATL), Chicago O’Hare (ORD), Los Angeles (LAX), Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), Denver (DEN), Charlotte (CLT), Houston (IAH), New York (JFK), San Francisco (SFO) and Phoenix (PHX
