The US Thanksgiving holiday is driving the busiest day of the year for the country’s domestic market, data from aviation analytics company Cirium has estimated, with November 26 set to see record numbers of passengers flown.
Drawing on data sourced from the company’s Dilo Mi Schedules System, Cirium suggests that volumes of domestic passengers travelling from Wednesday to Sunday during this year’s holiday week has surpassed the same period in 2022 by 7%. International figures also show strong growth year-on-year, with availability from European and Caribbean resort destinations both rising by 12% and 14% respectively.
Cirium’s historical fare data indicates that US domestic airfares have been stable in 2023, with a peak average fare of $188 in August 2023, and the lowest average fare being $176 in March 2023. Analysis of airfares for 2023 to date has indicated an average fare of $159 (compared to an average of $159 in 2022), with airfares up 14% year over year.
Holiday travellers will also be pleased to hear of what Cirium describes as the ‘strong operational performance’ of the 11 major US airlines in November 2023, with an average on-time performance (wherein a flight arrives before 14:59 of its scheduled arrival time) of 86.2%