Cheap airplane tickets and discount hotel rooms appear to be finally encouraging more people to travel. November marked the best passenger traffic month in the last 18 months, with the major airlines reporting an overall increase of less than one percent.
Even though this increase may seem meager, it is a reversal of the trend for air traffic, following a 9% drop in passenger traffic through the first three quarters of the year. All major airlines, with the exception of US Airways, reported that they flew fuller planes in November than in prior months.
Airlines executives conceded that most of the positive traffic has been generated through discounts and promotional deals.
Airlines however do not plan on increasing their domestic capacity at this point, which was cut during the oil price hikes and continued to be reduced during the recession. Domestic capacity in 2009 is estimated to drop 6% to 8%.
Price will remain king in determining the future of air travel.