US airlines boost winter schedules to meet surge in demand
27M seats are scheduled to depart US airports over Thanksgiving week
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Airlines are boosting the number of flights this winter to meet a surge in demand during the bustling holiday season.
United Airlines said it is expanding its Florida schedule by nearly 20% compared with last winter by adding flights to popular destinations such as Miami, Tampa and Orlando, and using larger aircraft.
There will be nearly double the number of seats available on flights from several United hub airports, including Chicago O'Hare, Washington Dulles, Houston and Newark/New York, to Key West International Airport, the carrier said.
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Mark Weithofer, United Airlines' managing director of domestic network planning, said the carrier has already started to see "record-breaking demand for winter travel."
A United Airlines plane on the tarmac at Orlando International Airport. (Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via / Getty Images)
American Airlines told FOX Business that the carrier is also growing its capacity to its most popular destinations this winter, including its Florida and international markets in Mexico, the Caribbean and Latin America.
American said it is operating 500 departures from across the U.S. to Florida on a peak day for travel during the December holiday period.
It will also have more than 350 peak-day departures to destinations in Mexico, the Caribbean and Latin America.
An American Airlines plane lands on a runway near a parked JetBlue plane. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
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Delta Air Lines in August added 35,000 seats to its Latin American and Caribbean winter schedule. It also expanded its flight schedule to China with 10 weekly flights to Shanghai-Pudong International Airport from its Seattle and Detroit hubs.
Over the summer, the carrier announced that it would resume nonstop service to Curaçao starting Dec. 16.
A Delta Air Lines plane departs Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, on April 7, 2021. (Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via / Getty Images)
Southwest typically adds a handful of extra flights when it sees an uptick in demand.
Given the strong demand, 27 million seats are currently scheduled to depart U.S. airports during the week of Thanksgiving travel, according to Hayley Berg, lead economist at travel app Hopper.
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This is a 15% increase over the volume of seats that were flown during the same time last year, Berg said.
To date, Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving are projected to be the busiest days of the holiday week with more than 3.6 million estimated to depart U.S. airports.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LUV | SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO. | 32.41 | +0.01 | +0.05% |
| UAL | UNITED AIRLINES HOLDINGS INC. | 91.16 | +1.38 | +1.54% |
| DAL | DELTA AIR LINES INC. | 64.85 | +0.39 | +0.61% |
Berg projected that about 24.5 million seats will depart from U.S. airports from Dec. 21 through Dec. 27 as Americans head home or to vacation for the holiday. That's about an 11% increase from capacity scheduled for the same period last year.
Thursday and Friday before Christmas are projected to be the most chaotic travel days, with over 3.7 million people estimated to depart airports across the U.S.