Air Transport Association Estimates Modest Growth in Number of Summer Passengers

Jet Fuel Prices Remain a Huge Challenge

WASHINGTON, May 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Air Transport Association of America (ATA), the trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines, today announced details of its annual summer air travel forecast.

ATA estimates that about 2.2 million passengers[1] per day will travel globally on U.S. airlines between June 1 and Aug. 31, 2010. This estimate of approximately 202 million passengers is roughly 1 percent higher than in the same period in 2009.

"We anticipate that the summer 2010 air travel season will be very modestly ahead of last year," said ATA President and CEO James C. May. "We would like to see even more growth, but this slight uptick in the number of air travelers is a positive sign for an economy and an industry in recovery."

ATA is projecting that approximately 176 million passengers will travel domestically during this summer travel period (on par with 2009 domestic levels), and approximately 26 million passengers will travel internationally (a 7 percent increase).

"One particular challenge that remains this summer is high jet fuel prices," said May. "We anticipate that jet fuel prices will be approximately 20 percent higher[2] than last summer's prices. This means that even as demand continues to gradually improve for air travel, we face rising fuel prices once again, which could hamper recovery efforts."

For every one-penny increase in the cost of jet fuel, the industry incurs an additional $170 million to $190 million in annual operating expenses. In 2009, U.S. passenger and cargo airlines spent $32.3 billion on fuel.

May continued, "Passengers should keep in mind that the chokepoints in the air traffic system – especially in the New York area – remain congested, despite capacity cuts necessitated by a weak economy and volatile fuel prices," said May. "This means that any disruption to the system, such as convective weather and air traffic control delays, will be amplified. Carriers remain duly concerned with delays and are planning accordingly. Passengers should be aware of this as well, and be prepared for delays, regardless of where in the system they are traveling."

TRAVELER TIPS

ATA encourages passengers to consult its resource page for recommended travel tips. In particular, passengers are advised to keep in mind the following:

• It is strongly recommended that all passengers review the Web site of the airline on which they are flying for respective policies, amenities, customer-service plans and flight-operation alert notifications.
• All ATA member airlines are fully compliant with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Secure Flight Program, which will mean that passengers can expect fewer security hassles at the airport.
• Before departing to the airport, be sure to check the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airport delay map.
• Remember that TSA requires that air travelers follow its 3-1-1 Rule for liquids, gels and aerosols in carry-on bags when passing through security checkpoints.

Annually, commercial aviation helps drive more than $1 trillion in U.S. economic activity and nearly 11 million U.S. jobs. On a daily basis, U.S. airlines operate approximately 25,000 flights in 80 countries, using more than 6,000 aircraft to carry an average of two million passengers and 30,000 tons of cargo. ATA airline members and their affiliates transport more than 90 percent of all U.S. airline passenger and cargo traffic. For additional industry information, visit www.airlines.org.

[1]The total number of revenue passengers aboard aircraft in scheduled service.

[2] According to Energy Information Association (EIA) jet fuel forecast of $2.19 per gallon, compared to $1.83 per gallon in 2009.

SOURCE Air Transport Association