Thanksgiving flight bookings top pre-pandemic levels
People wearing facemasks line up at a COVID-19 testing site at Orlando International Airport. The Florida Department of Health reported 134,506 new cases of COVID-19 within the state over the past week. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket
Flight bookings have surged for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, topping pre-pandemic 2019 bookings by 3.2%, according to the Adobe Digital Economy Index.
It's welcome relief for an industry looking for a boost in revenue after the virus decimated travel for more than a year before vaccination rates increased and restrictions eased.
Flights that have been booked and are slated to land between Nov. 20 and Nov. 25 are 78% higher compared to a year ago, according to Adobe, which measured direct consumer transactions from six of the top 10 U.S. airlines.
"After a year where many were unable to see their friends and families for Thanksgiving, we are expecting busy airports this month," Adobe Digital Insights lead analyst Vivek Pandya said.
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Still, "despite the uptick in holiday travel, bookings and revenue remained blunted in the last two months," due in part because of virus-related discounting, according to Adobe.
Consumers spent a collective $4.2 billion in online spending for domestic flights, 35% below the comparable period in 2019.
October showed more promise, with consumers spending $4.8 billion online. That is about 28% below the same period in 2019, according to Adobe.
However, the holiday uptick is driving up prices online once again following a "sizeable drop during the Covid-19 Delta variant surge," according to Adobe.
Flight prices in September were 13% below what they were in 2019. By October, prices were just 7% below two years ago.
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