International Air Traffic Topples Domestic Air Travel

Travel Agent took part Thursday in the Travel Industry Association's 2007 Forecast for Travel and Tourism press conference call. The call included speakers Dr. Suzanne Cook, senior vice president of research TIA, and Sandra Hughes, vice president of AAA. Among the revelations was the continuing increase of air traffic since September 11, 2001. But growth has been significantly stronger on international routes than on domestic routes, especially during the last two years when international traffic has grown more than twice as fast as domestic. And, overall, growth in airline traffic over the last five years has been less than was anticipated before the terrorist attacks and it has come at the cost of fares and profitability for the U.S. airlines. In the first quarter of this year, for example, average domestic airfares were still down 9 percent as compared to the first quarter of 2000.