Thanksgiving Will Be Busiest For Airlines Since Great Recession

(RTTNews) - The 12-day Thanksgiving season starting from November 20, is expected to be the most frantic air travel period in last eight years. More than 25 million passengers will be traveling to various destinations around the globe, an increase of 3 percent from the previous year.

According to Airlines for America or A4A, the average number of passengers will be above 2.7 million per day. More than 65,000 additional passengers are expected on the peak days ahead than a normal day. In the prior year, there were 24.6 million-passengers during the Thanksgiving days, with an additional 31,000 passengers from normal days.

November 25th Wednesday, November 29th Sunday, November 30th Monday are projected to be the peak days, while Thanksgiving Day November 26 and 27 will be comparatively light in this season.

Lower fuel prices have been helping airlines to reduce their operating costs and to earn more revenues. Fast falling fuel prices have not directly reflected in the airfares as the demand remained high. However, airfare is estimated to decline in December. Airline fuel cost per gallon has reduced to $1.68 in August 2015, while it was $2.93 in the prior year.

According to Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. average domestic air fare have been growing since the first quarter of 2009.

For this Thanksgiving season, more than 46 million Americans will be traveling to various destinations by air or road. The average travel will be 50 miles by road trip.