Airlines Reporting Corp. (ARC) announced that July 2024 US travel agency air ticket sales totaled $7.9 billion. This was a 5% increase both year over year and month over month. July’s total passenger trips rebounded from June’s numbers. The 24.1 million passenger trips were a 6% increase from June and a 10% increase from July 2023.
Air tickets sold by US corporate agencies, those with at least 70% self-reported corporate and government business, increased 11.2% year over year after dipping 7.2 % in June. It was the largest such increase reported since May 2023, when sales were also up 11.2%.
Steve Solomon, chief commercial officer at ARC, said projections of waning traveler demand are not reflected in US agency sales to start the second half of the year, which is positive news for both travel agencies and airlines. He said that “as leisure travel slows with the end of summer, airlines will look to corporate travel to continue the momentum in passenger trip growth.”
In July 2024, 19.7% of ARC’s monthly transaction volume came from New Distribution Capability (NDC) transactions — a 55% increase year over year. More than 950 travel agencies reported NDC transactions throughout the month.
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