Travel Agency August Air Ticket Sales Up 127% Over 2021

Travel agency airline ticket sales continue to increase.

According to data from the Airlines Reporting Corp. (ARC), ARC-accredited travel agency air ticket sales totaled $7.3 billion in August 2022, up 127% from the same period in 2021 and the highest since June ($7.9 billion).

That August number means that four out of the last five months had ARC-accredited agency sales over $7 billion, a number that wasn’t reached any month from March 2020 through February 2022. August’s number was still down from the $7.87 billion sold during the same month in 2019, part of that could be the gap between corporate and leisure, which still remains.

January 2020 remains the high since the start of 2020 with $8.8 billion in ticket sales.

August also showed monthly increasing ticket sales, and increasing trips, for those same agencies—total sales month-over-month increased 6% and total passenger trips increased 9% with domestic trips up 11% compared to 5% for international.

One trend that could be driving those bumps, aside from the continued demand snap-back, is a decrease in ticket prices month-over-month. July 2022 saw a 5% decrease in the average ticket price, which came in at $526.

“Travelers responded to declining airfares by purchasing air travel tickets at a rate we typically don’t see this time of year,” said Steve Solomon, chief commercial officer at ARC. “Leisure air travel ticket sales were above pre-pandemic levels for the entire month of August, while online travel agencies and corporate-focused travel agencies showed minor gains.”

Still, ticket prices are up 32% year-over-year and, according to data from travel technology company Hopper, could increase over the next couple of months.