US passenger numbers expected to hit record Labor Day high.

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August 17, 2017
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More Americans than ever will take to the air this Labor Day holiday with industry group Airlines for America (A4A) predicting a 5 percent rise over last year.

US airlines will add 133,000 seats a day to accommodate the 16.1 million people expected to fly worldwide over August 30 to Tuesday September 5 holiday period. Last year, 15.4m people flew over the holiday – more than the population of some countries.

The seat increase is expected to be more than adequate for the 110,000 additional passenger per day forecast to fly.

The busiest day is expected to Friday September 1, followed by Thursday August 31 and Monday September 4.

Those wanting to avoid the peak crowds should fly on either the Saturday or Sunday or Tuesday September 5 and Wednesday August 30.

The busiest airports are tipped to be Atlanta, Los Angeles and Chicago.

“As household wealth increases, ticket prices remain low and airlines large and small continue to grow, consumers are finding it easier and more affordable than ever to get away for personal or family travel,” said A4A vice president John Heimlich.

“While we expect a growth in passenger traffic over the Labor Day holiday, flyers can rest assured that U.S. airlines have appropriately increased the number of seats available for their late summer getaways.”

The US airline industry has enjoyed a record summer but without some of the long lines at security that plagued travelers in 2016.

The Transport Security Administration said it screened a record 72,117,046 passengers and crew in July and an average of 2.33 million passengers per day across June and July.

Read: American plans to expand use of advanced baggage scanners.

It said 99.9 percent of passenger using regular screening lanes waited 30 minutes or less, while the waiting time for pre-check passengers was less than five minutes.

Airlines have also been bumping fewer passengers and losing less bags.

Department of Transportation (DoT)  figures for the first half of 2017 show involuntary denied boarding dropped to its lowest level on record.

Bumping became the focus of intense media and political scrutiny earlier this year after a 69-year-old doctor was dragged from a United Express plane in Chicago.

The DoT figures show the rate of voluntary denied boarding fell from 0.62 per 10,000 passengers in the first half of 2016 to 0.52 in the first half of this year.

Mishandled baggage figures also hit a record low of 2.54 per 10,000 passengers, down from 2.65 in the same period of 2016.

The flight completion rate was down slightly, from 98.75 percent to 98.55 percent, and on time arrivals also fell, from 81.42 per cent to 78.66 percent.

At the same time, domestic seat supply was at its highest level since 2005 and international seats hit an all-time high.

A4A estimated airlines were collectively investing about $US1.6 billion on “customer experience” initiates such as better baggage handling and security systems, new aircraft and terminal facilities.

“Airlines regularly invest in their workforce and new technologies, and put in place processes to improve operations and enhance the customer experience,’’ Heimlich said.

“The industry’s nearly 99 percent flight completion rate and record-low rates of involuntarily denied boarding and mishandled baggage reflect these investments.’’