Dog days and peak passengers tipped for record US summer

Some experts believe portions of North America could be in for record high temperatures this summer. The industry trade group Airlines for America (A4A) believes passenger traffic could set records of its own for the summer of 2018, soaring 3.7 percent— just eclipsing last year’s record 237.3 million passengers. To handle the expected rush for seats A4A says America’s air carriers are adding 116,000 seats per day—this to accommodate additional 96,000 per day passengers they expect will descend on airports over the summer of 2018. What’s driving this expected record-breaking surge of seats? A4A contends it’s discretionary income. The airline trade group’s, Vice President and Chief Economist John Heimlich says:  “As the economy grows along with household net worth, passengers are taking passengers are taking advantage of persistently low fares for their summer travel plans.” Little will it matter if there are seats are in abundance only to be accompanied by scanty service. A4A offers up a slew of statistics to bolster its argument that service is pretty decent these days. Read Passenger bumping by US carriers hits a new low. Consider these statistics from the first quarter of 2018:

• Involuntary denied boarding (aka ‘bumping’) dropped to 1.2 bumpings per 100,000 passengers. That’s down from 6.2 such involuntary boarding denials during the first quarter of 2017;
• On-time arrivals edged up microscopically to 79.98 percent. Last year the first quarter rate was 79.42;
• On the other side of the statistical ledger, flight completions slipped from 98.24 percent, down to 97.45 percent. There was also a bit of a dip in properly-handled luggage. In the first three months of 2017, 99.74 percent of passenger bags were handled just fine. In 2018 the figure slipped a tad to 99.71 percent.

Then there’s the matter of airfares. A4A says they continued to fall when adjusted for inflation. Inclusive of those hated ancillary fees, the group calculates fares fell 12.5 percent from 2014 to 2017. In constant dollars that rendered the average “all in” roundtrip ticket US$363 last year. In contrast, with adjustments, the 2010 average was US$380.