Airlines for America (A4A), the industry trade organization for the leading US airlines, has reviewed first quarter 2016 results for US passenger airlines and released its summer air travel forecast, which projects summer 2016 passenger volumes to exceed by four percent the previous all-time high set in 2015, the company said.
Approximately 231.1 million passengers (2.51 million per day) are expected to fly scheduled service on US airlines from June 1 — Aug. 31 compared to 222.3 million passengers over the same time period in 2015, a 95,500 passengers-per-day increase. This includes 30.5 million travelers (331,000 per day) on international flights. To accommodate the record volumes, airlines will be offering 2.78 million seats per day to meet demand, which equates to an increase of 109,400 seats over the previous year.
First quarter 2016 results reflect the improving finances of 10 publicly traded US airlines (Alaska Airlines, Allegiant Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, United Airlines and Virgin America). They collectively reported pre-tax earnings of USD4.8 billion, resulting in a margin of 13.2 percent — up from 11.2 percent in 2015.
With 231 million passengers taking to the skies this summer, A4A encourages the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to quickly optimize staffing to avoid the excessively long lines travelers have waited in this spring.
Annually, commercial aviation helps drive nearly USD1.5 trillion in US economic activity and more than 11 million US jobs. Airlines for America (A4A) advocates on behalf of the American airline industry as a model of safety, customer service and environmental responsibility and as the indispensable network that drives our nation´s economy and global competitiveness.
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