Travel Agency Air Ticket Sales Continue to Rise

Airline Reporting Corp. (ARC) on Thursday reported a year-over-year increase of 113 percent of ancillary airline sales for the month of October, the group announced.

ARC is an Arlington, Va.-based travel date service that prides itself on offering forward-looking solutions for airlines. The travel intelligence company offers up information and insights on more than 15 billion annual flight transactions on nearly 500 airlines, large and small, in 230 countries.

ARC research found that ARC-accredited travel agency air ticket sales totaled $7.3 billion in October 2022, a 72 percent year-over-year increase. This includes $16.7 million in ancillary sales – such as upgrades, checked baggage, in-cabin pets and more – a 113 percent year-over-year increase. Ancillary transactions have increased 11 percent month over month and 74 percent year over year.

“While October’s overall travel demand was in line with what we saw in September, demand for ancillary products has been increasing,” said Steve Solomon, chief commercial officer at ARC, in a press release. “Travelers are looking to customize their experiences as we return to pre-pandemic travel levels, especially with international travel.”

Total passenger trips decreased 2 percent. U.S. domestic trips decreased 3 percent. International trips decreased 1 percent. Those figures are generally considered ‘flat’ in financial terms, meaning the industry did not necessarily gain money but didn’t lose it, either – a win coming out of the pandemic.

Total passenger trips settled by ARC in October 2022 increased 19 percent year over year from 17.5 million to 20.8 million, with a 37 percent increase in international trips and an 11 percent increase in domestic trips – again, somethings of a victory for the industry since business travel and international travel have been two of the sectors that have yet to rebound as quickly as leisure coming out of the pandemic.

The average U.S. round-trip air travel ticket price in October was $578 versus $560 in September, a 3 percent increase.