US carriers are finding their aircraft packed this summer as travellers and their families return to the skies in large numbers, taking advantage of domestic leisure fares that are comparable to the ticket prices of two decades ago.
The Air Transport Association, whose member airlines carry 90% of passenger traffic in the USA, estimates that 200 million passengers, up 4.1% from last year, would travel by air in the peak summer period.
Most carriers – low-cost, lowest-fare and legacy alike – are reporting record-breaking load factors above 80% this summer. JetBlue Airways, whose start-up in 2000 revolutionised the low-cost, low-fare image with its passenger amenities, filled an amazing 91.1% of its seats.
And it is not just domestic flights that are crowded. Airlines and travel organisations report that travellers are flooding onto the expanded flights US carriers are offering to international destinations this year. Most international load factors also are running well above 80%, with American at 83.8%, Delta at 85.2% and Northwest at 91%.
Even though 2005 domestic fares are up, in some cases substantially as carriers sought to recoup higher fuel prices, they have not turned travellers away, says Heather Dolstra, vice-president of Washington-based travel agent Democracy Travel. “People are still going,” she says. “It’s just like petrol prices. You may groan at the gas pump, but it doesn’t significantly alter how people are going about their daily lives. It’s the same thing with fare increases.”
Travel agents also are seeing significant increases in international bookings. “People are definitely travelling outside the US borders and in big numbers,” Dolstra says. The weak US dollar and higher average fares – about $1,200 to Europe this summer – are not deterring leisure travellers, she says. “It’s a seller’s market across the ocean.”
While higher fares have not dissuaded holiday-makers, sometimes availability has forced changes. “We’ve had numerous occasions this year when we found aircraft with zero seats, not even first class,” she says. “A lot more people this year are going to Europe, and there have been stretches this summer where there are no seats coming back.”
A recent Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) survey found that leisure travellers most often decide on the trip destination first and trip duration second before making other decisions, according to Suzanne Cook, TIA senior vice-president. “Travellers continue to shop mercilessly for the lowest prices after they’ve made these two decisions,” she says.
Happily for the airlines, and perhaps reflecting low domestic fares and higher petrol prices, growth in air travel was forecast by the TIA to be stronger than car travel this summer (even though most summer leisure trips in the USA are still by car). Recent surveys by TIA, the American Society of Travel Agents and American Express have found the usual suspects on Americans’ top domestic destination wish lists: Orlando, Florida; San Francisco and Los Angeles, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; New York City and Honolulu, Hawaii.
JetBlue’s strong pattern of service to airports throughout Florida and California from its base in New York, and increasingly Boston, have boosted leisure travel substantially to those destinations and the carrier plans further expansion. This includes low-fare flights from Newark to five Florida cities and Puerto Rico this autumn. Newark hub incumbent Continental is responding by matching JetBlue’s fares and adding more flights of its own.
JetBlue’s rise also led directly to Delta’s 2003 creation of Song, its low-fare airline, which competes head-to-head on JetBlue routes. Song also is expanding this autumn, replacing Delta on more city-pairs and adding 15 flights on “JetBlue” routes.
It’s clear that leisure travellers will have even more services to choose from.
Report by Carole Shifrin in Washington
Source: Airline Business
