Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC) reports that the consolidated dollar value of airline tickets sold by U.S.-based travel agencies decreased by 4.8 percent in the first seven months of 2016 as compared to 2015, totaling $52.7 billion vs. $55.4 billion. July 2016 ticket sales were down 10.2 percent to $6.6 billion against the same month last year. Ticket transactions were flat at 0.2 percent at 13 million in 2016 vs. 2015.
Electronic Miscellaneous Document (EMD) sales comprised $21.3 million of the year-to-date sales vs. $8.4 million in 2015, and $2.9 million of the July 2016 sales as compared to $1.6 million in July 2015. EMD transactions increased 280 percent to 297,719 so far in 2016 vs. 78,328 in 2015. EMD sales include fees for products and services such as upgraded seats, checked luggage, an unaccompanied minor, pet-in-cabin, etc.
In 2015, ARC settled $88.3 billion worth of carrier ticket transactions for more than 9,400 travel agencies with 13,000 points of sale.