US Travel Agency Air Ticket Sales Elude Seasonal Trends

Airlines Reporting Corp. (ARC) has revealed that ARC-accredited travel agency air ticket sales surpassed the $4 billion mark for the second consecutive month, with total sales reaching $4.5 billion in November 2021.

The total represents a whopping 279 percent year-over-year increase from just $1.2 billion in November 2020.

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Month over month, ARC’s November 2021 results showed that total sales increased five percent, with total passenger trips decreasing five percent. U.S. domestic trips decreased seven percent, and international trips were down just one percent.

However, total passenger trips settled by ARC last month increased 140 percent year over year from 6.9 million to 16.7 million while U.S. domestic passenger trips increased 144 percent to 11.4 million. Meanwhile, international passenger trips increased 132 percent to 5.3 million, and the average U.S. roundtrip ticket price in November 2021 was $464, a 26 percent increase from just $368 in November 2020.

What’s more, year over year, November 2021 Electronic Miscellaneous Documents (EMD) sales increased 229 percent to $8,692,372. EMD transactions increased 187 percent to 167,230.

“Pre-pandemic, month-over-month sales and passenger trips typically decline from October to November. The U.S. opening its borders to vaccinated international travelers on November 8 coupled with rising ticket prices helped increase total sales despite the overall number of trips declining,” Steve Solomon, vice president of global sales, marketing, operations and customer experience at ARC, said in a statement. “We will continue to monitor demand changes due to the omicron variant and some countries reinstating travel and border restrictions.”

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