Cheap airplane tickets and cheap vacation packageswere a little more difficult to find in January as ticket prices rose and passenger revenue increased 1.4 percent, in spite of fewer people flying, marking the first U.S. airline passenger revenue increase in 14 months.
The increase in revenue was driven in part by the average ticket price to fly one mile increasing almost 1 percent, the first hike since November of 08. Passenger traffic fell 0.4 percent last month.
Revenue also benefited by an increase of over 3 percent in the number of passengers traveling on trans-Atlantic flights for the month.
In 09 airlines reduced the number of routes they flew and cut back the number of flights being flown because of the recession. Business travel has been particularly hard hit. To encourage more people to fly, airlines have continued to offer cheap fares. Many business passengers who purchased more expensive tickets in the past have started flying coach or not flying at all.