A4A Projects Thanksgiving Air Travel to Rise 3 Percent to 28.5 Million Passengers in 2017

WASHINGTON, November 1, 2017 – Airlines for America (A4A), the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines, projected that 28.5 million passengers will travel on U.S. airlines during the 12-day Thanksgiving air-travel period, up 3 percent from 2016. The 2.38 million passengers per day expected to take to the skies represent an increase of 69,000 from the 2016 Thanksgiving travel period. Airlines are accommodating this increase in demand by adding 86,000 more seats in the marketplace each day, a 3.2 percent increase over 2016.

The 2017 Thanksgiving air-travel period runs from Friday, Nov. 17 through Tuesday, Nov. 28, with the busiest day projected to be Sunday, Nov. 26, with an estimated 2.88 million passengers.

“Airline passengers continue to benefit from the highly competitive air-service landscape this holiday season, as low fares and increased availability of seats continue to make air travel widely accessible,” said A4A Vice President and Chief Economist John Heimlich.

Daily passenger volumes will range from 1.61 million to 2.88 million, with the busiest travel days in ranked order expected to be Sunday, Nov. 26; Wednesday, Nov. 22 and Friday, Nov. 17. The lightest travel day is expected to be Thanksgiving Day – Thursday, Nov. 23.