US Airlines To Carry 3.5 Pct More Passengers During Holidays

US airline trade group Airlines for America (A4A) expects 51 million people to fly over the three week winter holiday season this year.

That number is a 3.5 percent increase over the same period last year when 49.3 million flew on US carriers.

A4A said 91,000 extra seats will be available each day to accommodate the expected 80,000 additional daily passengers over the holiday period. Airlines will use larger aircraft as well as adding extra flights to meet the demand.

Airlines for America expects the busiest travel days over the period to be Thursday, December 21, Friday, December 22 and Tuesday, December 26. The quietest travel days are expected to be Saturday, December 16, Sunday, December 24, Monday December 25 and Sunday December 31.

Passenger volumes are expected to range from just under 2 million on the lightest days to over 2.7 million on the busiest.

During the 2016 holiday period, US airlines carried an average of 2.25 million passengers per day.