US: Air travel during spring break is expected to set new record

Air travel for this year's spring break season is expected to jump 3% over last year's, setting a new record, according to a trade group for the nation's airlines. The expected surge -- a rise to 140m passengers during March and April, up from 136.2m during the same months last year -- was attributed to "accessibility and affordability of air travel" by John Heimlich, chief economist for the trade group Airlines for America. The most recent data from the US DoT shows that domestic airfares dropped 6.2% in the three-month period that ended last September. But more recent numbers show airfares may be on the rise. The nation's airlines have adopted three fare hikes in the first two months of 2016, the first two for $6 per round trip and the third for $10 per round trip, according to the travel site FareCompare. Also, travel app Hopper said on its blog that airfares jumped nearly 7% in February, and projected an additional 3.5% increase in March.<br/>The rise in air travel, combined with a 40% drop in the price of jet fuel over the last year, is good news for the airline industry, which reported losing a combined $29 billion in the decade after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. <br/>