Airlines Reporting Corp. (ARC) has released data showing that ticket sales from more than 10,000 travel agencies accredited by ARC (excluding tickets purchased directly from airlines) amounted to $8.4 billion in February 2023, representing a year-over-year increase of 54% compared to February 2022, making it the best month since the pandemic outbreak after May last year.
The total number of trips settled by ARC in February 2023 increased 13% year-over-year to 22.4 million, driven by a 29% year-over-year increase in international travel (8.9 million). Domestic travel in the United States increased by 4% (13.49 million).
The January to February trend was not positive, with total sales remaining at similar levels, but total trips declining 7% (-9% in domestic and -3% in international).
Regarding this, Steve Solomon, ARC’s Chief Commercial Officer, said that «Despite flat sales and decreases in passenger trips month over month, overall demand remains stronger than what we saw last year with international travel showing continued strength,».
«February followed pre-pandemic seasonality trends, which could indicate further industry normalization as airlines prepare for the busy spring and summer travel months,» he added.
Ancillary sales such as seat selection, catering or extra baggage, among others, grew 134%, reaching $21,777,658, while the number of transactions grew 84%.
The number of tickets settled by the corporate travel agency segment increased by 43% in February compared to the same month in 2022. The number of tickets settled by online travel agencies fell 11.6%, while traditional agencies grew 18.4%.
