Holiday air travel is projected to rise 3 percent from last year

A projected 38 million passengers will fly on U.S. carriers during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, a 3 percent increase from last year, according to an airline trade group that attributes the rise to lower airfares and an improved economy.

The increase should result in about 73,000 more travelers a day from Dec. 18 to Jan. 3 compared with the same period last year, according to Airlines for America, a Washington-based trade group.

Airfares have fallen 4.3 percent for the first nine months of the year, the group said. That drop is mostly attributed to a steep decline in the price of fuel, the largest expense for most airlines. Jet fuel prices have dropped 33 percent over the past year to about $1.40 a gallon in North America.

With domestic flights increasingly crowded as demand for air travel has grown, the trade group said airlines will deploy larger planes to carry the surge in holiday travelers.

“U.S. airlines are well positioned to serve the higher demand by adding flights and seats, deploying new and larger aircraft and boosting staffing,” said John Heimlich, chief economist for the group.

A report released by the U.S. Department of Transportation said the rate of filled seats on domestic and international flights, known as the load factor, rose to 83 percent in September, the highest rate for any September on record.

Airlines for America projects that the busiest travel days will be, in order: Jan. 3 (a Sunday), Dec. 18 (a Friday) and Dec. 27 (a Sunday). The lightest travel days should be Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

The number of passengers flying on U.S. carriers for the 17-day period is expected to range from 1.9 million to 2.4 million a day, the trade group said.

This story was originally published December 10, 2015 at 2:44 PM with the headline "Holiday air travel is projected to rise 3 percent from last year."