International travel surges through holidays as US airlines kick off winter season

Upcoming holiday air travel is likely to break records in the USA as major airlines prepare for the operationally challenging winter season. The US Transportation Security Administration says it expects to screen more than 18m airline passengers from 26 November to 2 December, a 6% increase over the same period of last year. The roughly week-long Thanksgiving travel period is historically the year’s busiest for US airlines. This year, more airline customers are booking international flights over the holidays – particularly to European cities. Booking data from the American Automobile Association (AAA) indicates international reservations are up by 23% “in part because the cost to fly internationally is down” about 5%, AAA says. United Airlines says it is gearing up for its “busiest holiday travel season on record” – which includes the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year holidays – as it expects to move some 25m passengers. The Chicago-headquartered carrier notes surging demand for air travel to Europe during the Christmas period, with bookings to cities such as London, Frankfurt, Munich, Paris and Brussels up nearly 10% over last year – and 30% over pre-pandemic 2019 levels. “The European Christmas markets have become even more popular in recent years,” says Darren Scott, United’s director of Atlantic and Hawaii planning. Compared with last year, American Airlines expects to fly an extra 500,000 passengers during the Thanksgiving holiday period, which it broadly defines as 21 November-3 December. American expects to fly a total of 8.3m passengers via 77,000 flights during that operational window. Its busiest day during the Thanksgiving period is set to come on 1 December, with more than 1,000 aircraft simultaneously en route during its highest peak. The surge is extending to US regional airlines, as well. St Louis-based GoJet Airlines, which flies regional jets under the United Express brand on behalf of United, says its number of scheduled flights during the holidays is expected to increase about 40%, year on year. <br/>