U.S. Travel Agencies Set Air Ticket Sales Record in 2019
Year's Total Reaches $97.4 Billion as Passenger Trips Increase 2.3%
Airlines Reporting Corp. (ARC) announced today that U.S.-based travel agencies achieved record sales of airline tickets in 2019. The consolidated dollar value of tickets sold last year totaled $97.4 billion, a 2.8% increase when compared to 2018.*
The increase was aided by a 10% surge in December ticket sales when compared to the same period in 2018, totaling $6.1 billion. The average U.S. round-trip ticket price in 2019 was $494, a $4 increase over 2018.
Total passenger trips settled by ARC for U.S. travel agencies in 2019 increased by 2.3% compared to 2018, to 302,323,757. In 2019, U.S. domestic trips increased by 2% while international passenger trips increased by nearly 3%.
Electronic Miscellaneous Document (EMD)** sales in December swelled 44% to help total 2019 sales increase by 8% to $84.6 million. EMD transaction volume last year increased by 8.5% over 2018, totaling 1.4 million.