US travel agency air ticket sales still in the red

  • US travel agency seven-day air ticket volume and other variances ending February 28, 2021
  • These totals represent sales generated by U.S. travel agencies and processed through the ARC settlement system
  • Results are based on weekly sales data ending February 28, 2021, from 11,089 U.S. retail and corporate travel agency locations, and online travel agencies

Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC) today reported the following consolidated airline ticketing volume variances, compared to the same period in 2019. These totals represent sales generated by U.S. travel agencies* and processed through the ARC settlement system. Data figures are for the seven days ending February 28, 2021.

Tickets Issued for All Itineraries:

  7-Day Period Ending Ticket Variance
 vs. Same Week 2019
 Sales Variance
vs. Same Week 2019
February 7 -66.9% -81.5%
February 14 -66.5% -81.0%
February 21 -64.0% -79.9%
February 28 -58.9% -76.1%
52-Week Average** -73.4% -83.6%

Variances in Tickets Sold by Segment for All Itineraries:

7-Day Period Ending Corporate Online Leisure/Other
February 7 -86.1% -50.3% -70.1%
February 14 -85.7% -50.9% -69.2%
February 21 -84.7% -46.4% -67.8%
February 28 -83.0% -40.4% -62.9%
52-Week Average** -87.0% -62.6%  -75.0%

*Notes

  • Results are based on weekly sales data ending February 28, 2021, from 11,089 U.S. retail and corporate travel agency locations, and online travel agencies. Results do not include sales of tickets purchased directly from airlines and are not net of refunds or exchanges.
  • Total sales are equal to the total amount paid for a ticket, which includes taxes and fees.

**Additional Notes

The 52-week rolling average is the average ticketing volume and other variances over the last 52 weeks, ending with the most recent week, compared to the 2019 baseline numbers.