Airlines for America forecasts that U.S. carriers will transport 16.1 million passengers worldwide over the upcoming Labor Day travel period, representing a 5 percent increase compared with Labor Day 2016. To handle peak demand, airlines plan to add roughly 133,000 extra seats per day from Aug. 30 through Sept. 5, accommodating more than 110,000 travelers per day across the holiday weekend.
The busiest airports for the unofficial end of summer are expected to include Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport and O’Hare International Airport. Friday, Sept. 1 is projected to be the single busiest travel day of the period.
“As household wealth rises, fares remain relatively low and both major and regional carriers expand service, more people are finding it easier and more affordable to travel for personal or family reasons,” said John Heimlich, vice president and chief economist at Airlines for America. “We expect passenger traffic to grow over the Labor Day holiday, and airlines have increased seat capacity accordingly to meet that demand.”
Performance data for the first half of the year show that U.S. airlines completed 98.55 percent of scheduled domestic flights, a slight decrease of about 0.20 percentage points from the prior year. The industry’s on-time arrival rate was 78.66 percent, down from 81.42 percent the year before. Despite those declines, baggage handling and involuntary denied-boarding metrics improved: the mishandled baggage rate fell to 2.54 per 1,000 passengers—the lowest level recorded—and the rate of involuntarily denied boardings dropped to 0.52 per 10,000 passengers, also a record low.
“Airlines continue to invest in their workforces, adopt new technologies and refine operational processes to improve reliability and the customer experience,” Heimlich added. “The industry’s nearly 99 percent flight completion rate and record-low rates of involuntary denied boardings and mishandled baggage demonstrate the impact of those investments.”