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Airlines are aggressively slashing ticket prices to fight a falloff in travel caused by the recession.
Data analyzed by Travelocity.com for USA TODAY show fares over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, the start of the summer season, are down sharply from last year.
The average domestic roundtrip airfare booked for the holiday on Travelocity as of last Monday is $295, down about 10 percent from a year ago. Fares booked to many popular destinations are down even more. The average fare to Washington, D.C., over Memorial Day weekend, for instance, is down 18 percent over last year.
The average Travelocity-booked fare for international flights over Memorial Day weekend is $610 roundtrip, down 14 percent from $713 last year and down 16 percent from 2007. The fare to London is down 20 percent; Paris is down 33 percent.