ARC Seeing Distinct Rise In Airline Ticket Sales for 2019

Airlines Reporting Corp. (ARC) reports that the consolidated dollar value of airline tickets sold in January 2019 by U.S.-based travel agencies increased 3.2 percent as compared to January 2018, totaling nearly $8.7 billion vs. $8.4 billion. The average U.S. round-trip ticket price for was $476, up $17 from January 2018.

The total number of passenger trips settled by ARC for U.S. travel agencies increased just under 0.4 percent to 27,686,761 compared to 27,589,579 in January 2018. U.S. domestic trips decreased approximately 1 percent while international passenger trips grew nearly 3 percent.

Meanwhile, to no surprise, ARC found strong air ticket sales to warmer destinations from the U.S. this winter. Tickets for travel between Dec. 1, 2018 and Feb. 28, 2019 increased more than 3.6 percent compared to the same period last winter.

The study also found that travelers looking to escape cold weather by flying south will pay an average ticket price of $473, up from $458 last year. U.S. travel agencies sold more than 3.6 million air tickets to the top 10 destinations in Mexico and the Caribbean. Cancun is the top spot for winter travel with nearly 772,000 air tickets sold.

The average ticket price to Cancun is $441, up from $438 last winter. The lowest average priced ticket is $396 to San Juan, also up from $358 last winter. Average ticket prices for travel to Mexico City ($409), Los Cabos ($438), Puerto Vallarta ($478), Punta Cana ($639), Montego Bay ($557) and Nassau ($470) are also higher than last year. Tickets to Santo Domingo and Aruba were down this year, decreasing approximately $10 to $426 and $540 respectively.

The top 10 destinations by airline ticket transactions include:

Cancun, Mexico

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Mexico City, Mexico

Los Cabos, Mexico

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Montego Bay, Jamaica

Nassau, Bahamas

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Oranjestad, Aruba