As airlines prepare for a busy holiday season, airfares are gaining altitude and rising to pre-pandemic levels, according to Adobe’s Digital Economy Index, an encouraging sign for the beleaguered industry amid soaring demand from American holidaymakers. Domestic flight prices in October were just 7% below 2019 levels before the pandemic, according to Adobe, which tracks transactions from six of the top ten U.S. airlines.
Despite increasing demand—bookings in September and October were just 13% and 10% below the same period in 2019—lower ticket prices kept revenues grounded, Adobe found, driving $4.2 billion in online spending in September and $4.8 billion in October, down 35% and 28% from the same period in 2019, respectively.
The lower airfares were in part due to heavier discounting by airlines, according to Adobe, and prices had dropped significantlyThe busy holiday period is also driving up prices online, according to Adobe Digital Insights lead analyst Vivek Pandya, who said consumers would be wise to “start thinking about Christmas travel pretty soon.”
Bookings for Thanksgiving flights this year, defined as landing between November 20 and November 25, are on track to meet or beat pre-pandemic levels, according to Adobe, and are up 78% from this point in 2020 and 3.2% above 2019 . After advising Americans to stay at home for the holidays in 2020, public health officials like Dr.
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