Air ticket sales by U.S. travel agencies still run flat in 2013 vs. 2012
ARC, the financial settlement link between airlines and travel sellers, reported today that the consolidated dollar value of airline tickets sold by U.S.-based travel agencies stayed relatively flat at -0.58 percent year-over-year in the five months of 2013 compared to the same period last year, totaling $39.0 billion vs. $39.3 billion in 2012 and $36.7 billion in 2011. Sales for May 2013 were down slightly at -0.27 percent to 8.1 billion compared to May 2012 at $8.2 billion.
Ticket transactions for the first five months of 2013 also remained flat at -0.67 percent over the same period in 2012 at 64.2 million. Year-to-date passenger segments decreased 2.0 percent to 147.3 million compared to 150.3 million in the five months of 2012 and 149.6 million in 2011.