US agents’ flight sales soar despite summer dip in bookings

US travel agency sales of air tickets topped $4 billion in value in July despite a 4% decline in trips month on month.

Agency sales were more than 10 times the total of July 2020 and surpassed $4 billion for the second consecutive month, according to the Airlines Reporting Corp (ARC) which handles airline transactions through high street agents, online agents (OTAs) and travel management companies (TMCs).

The number of flights booked through agents more than tripled year on year to 16.8 million, up from 5.1 million in July 2020.

The total comprised more than 12 million US domestic flights and 4.7 million international.

ARC reported the average fare for a US domestic return flight was up by more than $130 year on year, from $321 in July 2020 to $458 last month.

That was despite US domestic trip numbers falling by 2% month on month in July and international trips decreasing by 10%.

US borders remain closed to international arrivals from the UK and EU, but the EU opened to US travellers in June and the UK followed suit on August 2.

ARC pointed out the decline in air trips compared with June was in line with “the typical seasonal pattern of sales decreasing from June to July each year” and followed seven consecutive months of growth in agency sales.

Chuck Thackston, managing director of data science and research at ARC, said: “We typically see a slowdown in air ticket sales during the summer months as consumers finish their summer vacation travel.

“While airlines watch the new Covid-19 variants to determine the impact on travel, we anticipate new bookings and ticket sales to follow a similar pattern to prior years.”

The figures are based on transactions through almost 11,000 US agents, TMCs and OTAs.

ARC is the US equivalent of the Iata billing and settlement plan (BSP) and processed agency sales worth more than $97 billion in 2019.

It’s owned by major North American carriers including Delta Air Lines, United, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Alaska Airlines and Air Canada.